Senator Risa Hontiveros clapped back on embattled Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo or Guo Hua Ping, who tried to justify her excuses in skipping the previous Senate hearings by going to social media, asking why public officials and government offices seemed “fixated” on her.
“Don’t worry, we are not fixated on you. We are just allergic to liars,” Hontiveros responded in a statement released Friday, referring to the initial results of the ongoing Senate investigation that debunked the narrative of the troubled mayor.
Guo is being scrutinized for her alleged ties to illegitimate Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) in Bamban. She is also being questioned for assuming a Filipino identity, so she could run for public office, despite records verifying her Chinese nationality.
The mayor said she chose not to attend the hearings because she was prioritizing her health and peace of mind. To which Hontiveros replied: “How can you have peace of mind when you keep evading questions?”
Guo gained public attention for her inconsistent testimonies about her life, which later on became the subject of memes and teleserye storylines. She then accused Hontiveros and Senator Sherwin Gatchalian of using her to “boost their political ambitions.”
The Senate Deputy Minority Leader, however, reminded Guo that she was summoned because she was at the center of the abuses of POGOs, which she allegedly allowed to thrive under her watch as mayor.
“You lied about your connections with POGOs. You lied about your identity and every time you log on to Facebook, you have a new invention,” Hontiveros told Guo. The senator also reminded the mayor that “attendance before the Senate hearings is adherence to the rule of law.”
Senate President Francis Escudero also reacted somewhat negatively to the statement of Guo, saying she is in no position to tell any member of the upper chamber what they should prioritize in carrying out their mandate as legislators.
“It’s her right to say that. But, for me, she is not in a position to say that,” said Escudero in a media briefing.
The mayor appealed to senators to turn their attention on other more critical issues such as poverty, national security, food shortage, healthcare delivery, among other matters instead of focusing on her.
“Am I really the country’s biggest problem? Or they just want to project me as the antagonist/villain?” she asked.
Guo, meanwhile, also refuted in her statement insinuations that she was behind the death threats that Gatchalian received lately for his role in the Senate probe against her. “I do not pose any threat to him or to anyone,” she said.
She likewise denied she was holding a Chinese passport amid concerns she may have already left the country using it. Guo has been cited for contempt over her absences in the last Senate hearings and has a warrant for her arrest, as well as the people around her, to compel their attendance.
The Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality, which Hontiveros chairs, has scheduled the next POGOs hearing on July 29. The hearing is also looking into the alleged connections between the offshore gambling operations in Bamban, Tarlac and Porac, Pampanga.
