Suspended Bamban, Tarlac mayor Alice Guo (PNA photo by Avito Dalan)
MANILA – The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has yet to locate the whereabouts of the other “Alice Guo,” which the Senate believes is the “missing link” in an ongoing probe into the illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) in Tarlac.
During the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations, and Gender Equality hearing on Wednesday, NBI Organization and Transnational Crime Division special investigator Edgardo Kawada said the agency is doing its best to locate her and expressed confidence that she would be found soon.
“We are still doing our best to locate these personalities,” he said, adding there are other NBI teams also handling the case. “We seek assistance from other agencies like the LTO (Land Transportation Office)”.
Kawada said there were also no Wesley Guo, Amelito Guo, nor Amelia Leal found in their investigations in Project 4 in Quezon City, including in other barangays like Baesa, Toro or Sangandaan.
Meanwhile, he did not give a categorical answer when asked by Senate Committee Chairperson Risa Hontiveros if the NBI is looking at the possibility that there could be “parked names or address” for those applying for an NBI clearance under false pretense.
NBI Dactyloscopy Division Chief Alfredo Kahanding, in the same hearing, officially confirmed that the fingerprints of Mayor Alice Guo and a certain Chinese national named Guo Hua Ping are the same person.
He said the mayor’s fingerprint and the one in the alien fingerprint card obtained in March 2006 matched by “18 identical ridges characteristics”.
“Kaya sure po tayo ngayon na si Alice Guo po at si Guo Hua Ping ay isang tao lamang (That’s why we are sure that Alice Guo and Guo Hua Ping are the same person),” Kahanding said.
He also confirmed that her sibling Wesley Guo and a certain Guo Xiang Dian are one individual.
Amid a call for a third-party investigation, Kahanding emphasized that identification through dactyloscopy is infallible, meaning the incapable of error, and is accepted in courts.
In the Philippines, Kahanding said the standard number used to conclude that two sets of fingerprints came from one person is 10 identical ridge characteristics.
For Wesley Guo, he said 17 identical characteristics were found with the fingerprint of Guo Xiang Dian. (PNA)
