•Indonesia Interpol says 6 foreigners aided Guo
•Tarlac court orders Guo to attend Senate hearing
•DILG move to file case in Tarlac ‘irregular’—Risa
Dismissed Bamban mayor Alice Guo must explain why illegal POGO activities thrived in her province during her tenure, President Marcos on Friday said.
“What I want to hear from her is how these POGOs became such a large, basically criminal enterprise. As mayor, it’s very difficult to believe she did not know what was going on,” Mr. Marcos said.
The Chief Executive also pointed to unanswered questions about Guo’s sudden wealth and her rise to power despite not being widely known in her community.
Mr. Marcos noted both the House and Senate raised these issues in their ongoing investigations as he urged Guo to be more cooperative than her associates, including Cassandra Li Ong.
Guo, who was brought back to Manila early Friday dawn, had about up to six foreign “supporters” while she was holed up in Indonesia, Interpol official Inspector General Krisha Murti said in an ABS-CBN report.
Murti said five Chinese and an Indonesian aided Guo while she moved from Batam to Tangerang City where she was nabbed.
He said under the arrangement, Guo gave money to her supporters for “car rental, food, SIM card, and hotel bills.”
Guo’s case has drawn international attention, with her return to the Philippines involving sensitive negotiations with Indonesia.
President Marcos emphasized the complexity of securing Guo’s transfer, but denied a prisoner swap was discussed and instead credited the strong diplomatic relationship between the Philippines and Indonesia.
“There was no prisoner swap, no demand,” Mr. Marcos said.
Meanwhile, Guo was ordered to attend the scheduled public hearing of the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality on Monday, September 9, to answer various allegations leveled against her.
Judge Sarah Vedaña-Delos Santos of Tarlac Regional Trial Court Branch 109 signed the order in response to the request of committee chairperson Senator Risa Hontiveros.
“Given the critical importance of the ongoing inquiry in aid of legislation, the court grants the senator’s request,” the order read.
Hours before she was deported from Indonesia, the Tarlac court issued an arrest warrant against Guo over a graft case filed by the Department of Interior and Local Government over her connection to the raided POGO hub in Bamban.
Hontiveros said she found the DILG’s action “highly irregular.”
“Guo should have been turned over to the Senate immediately after she was processed by the Philippine National Police. Sandiganbayan is the right venue for graft and corruption charges against high-ranking officials like Mayor Guo,” Hontiveros said.
“Did the DILG file a deliberately watered-down case to wrest custody of the fugitive? Why? What happened was highly irregular. We will get to the bottom of who is orchestrating all this circus and wild goose chase,” Hontiveros added.
While in Tarlac, Guo decided not to post bail because it was still “not urgent,” said her lawyer Stephen David.
David said even if Guo posted the P180,000 bail – P90,000 for each count of graft – she still will not get temporary liberty.
Editor’s Note: This is an updated article. Originally posted with the headline “Marcos wants answers from Guo over role in POGOs.”
