Senators on Monday sought to squeeze information on how several members of the Guo clan managed to pull off their daring escape from the Philippines despite their being on a government watchlist, but they only got fragments from their star witness, “Sheila Guo,” supposed sister of fugitive ex-Mayor Alice Guo.
Testifying before a committee headed by Sen. Risa Hontiveros, Sheila, also known as Zhang Mier, said they were picked up by a white van on their farm in Bamban, Tarlac shortly after dinner on the evening of their escape.
The witness said she did not know the driver nor the license plate of the van used to fetch them.
She narrated that they traveled for about five hours until they reached an unfamiliar seaport from where they boarded a boat to embark on the first leg of their journey to escape Philippine justice.
From the small boat, they soon transferred to a fishing vessel and travelled for another five hours until they reached Malaysia, Sheila recounted.
“The boat we transferred to had fishing nets,” she said in Filipino while recalling that the vessel was “either blue or green.”
For his part, Sen. Joel Villanueva rebuked law enforcers for failing to closely watch the Guo farm in Tarlac.
“This a bit alarming and a (cause for) concern. It’s common sense… They should have watched the farm and know what’s happening inside,” said the senator.
When senators pressed for her true relationship with Alice Guo or Guo Hua Ping, she revealed that they are not really related by blood.
She recalled that she came to know the Guo family through her aunt Lin Wen Yi.
Sheila said Alice’s father, Jian Zhong Guo, whom she calls “Daddy,” asked her to go to the Philippines to manage their embroidery firms in Quezon City.
She was then 17 or 18 years old when she first came to the Philippines, and that was the first time she was introduced her “younger sister” by the Guo patriarch.
During Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian’s questioning, Sheila admitted that her Philippine passport was simply handed to her by Jian Zhong Guo.
Furthermore, she denied knowing the contents of the documents related to the Guo family companies where she was named corporate secretary, treasurer and incorporator.
She blindly affixed her signatures without reading or asking about the documents, she told Gatchalian.
Sheila, along with Cassandra Li Ong was eventually arrested by Indonesian immigration authorities on Aug. 22.
She was the corporate secretary of most of the Guo family’s companies, while Ong was the authorized representative of Lucky South 99, an illegal POGO raided in Bamban, Tarlac.
Sheila was remanded to the custody of the Senate while “Cassie” Ong is being held at the House.
Ong, a central figure in the ongoing investigation into illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) and their associated illegal activities, was scheduled to appear today at the resumption of the House Quad-Comm hearings deliberating on the matter.
POGOs, which flourished during the administration of former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, were later banned by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. after they were found to be fronts for numerous criminal activities, including money laundering, human trafficking, and illegal drug trade.
As this developed, Bureau of Immigration (BI) commissioner Norman Tansingco said Alice Guo is still in Indonesia and is being monitored by local immigration authorities.
“Based on the latest report submitted to me last night, Alice Guo is in Jakarta,” Tansingco said.
Wesley may have already entered Hong Kong, the BI chief added.
“Based on our coordination with our counterparts, Indonesian Immigration, mayor Alice Guo has not yet made an attempt to cross the border again, since she last entered (Indonesia) on Aug. 18,” BI spokesperson Dana Sandoval said.
“We are monitoring the situation and we are in communication with our counterparts there as well as intelligence groups in Indonesia so that we would be able to locate the whereabouts and monitor the movements of former mayor Alice Guo,” she added.
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated. Originally posted with the headline “Shiela Guo admits leaving the Philippines with sister Alice and brother Wesley via boat.”
