Dismissed Bamban mayor Alice Guo (PNA file photo Avito Dalan)
MANILA – The quad committee of the House of Representatives will invite dismissed Bamban, Tarlac mayor Alice Guo as a resource person in its ongoing probe into the unlawful activities linked to Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs).
During its fourth hearing on Wednesday, Surigao del Norte 2nd District Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, chairperson of the quad committee and dangerous drugs panel, said they would coordinate with the Senate to arrange for Guo to participate in the investigation.
Guo, who was apprehended by the Indonesian police in Jakarta on Tuesday night, is allegedly involved in the illegal POGO operations in Bamban, Tarlac.
House Committee on Public Order and Safety chairperson Dan Fernandez noted that Guo had already been invited to the previous hearings conducted by his committee and this had been elevated to the quad committee.
"If that is the case, then the invitation made in the previous committees prior to the creation of quad comm still stands. She has an invitation on this committee and we will coordinate with the Senate as to her availability in order to be able to attend our committee hearings on the issue of illegal POGOs," Barbers said.
Guo was able to leave the country on July 18, despite being the subject of an immigration lookout bulletin due to the ongoing investigations.
She reportedly headed to Malaysia, arrived in Singapore on July 21, and traveled to Indonesia on Aug. 18.
‘Powerful people’
House quad panel co-chair Dan Fernandez believed that “powerful people” are behind the interconnected operations of POGOs, illegal drugs, extra-judicial killings, and other related crimes.
“By now, there can be no doubt in anyone's mind that powerful people are behind this large-scale, multi-billion-peso criminal enterprise involving drug trafficking, POGOS, and extra-judicial killings,” the congressman of Sta. Rosa, Laguna said in his opening statement.
Fernandez, chair of the House Committee on Public Safety, said the fact that several key personalities of POGO corporations have managed to evade the law “speaks volumes of the power they wield and the resources at their disposal.”
He said the quad committee would not stop to find the powerful people despite the accusations that the House hearing was politically motivated.
Fernandez said in the next quad panel hearings, he would move to invite powerful personalities, including Hongjiang Yang, brother of Micheal Yang who served as presidential economic adviser under former President Rodrigo Duterte.
Barbers, for his part, said he wants to unravel the web of extrajudicial killings, the collusion between a well-organized syndicate and government officials in the drug trade, and the criminal activities linked to POGOs.
“In our previous hearings, serious allegations came to light. Witnesses claimed that former President Rodrigo Duterte was directly involved in the execution of Chinese drug personalities while they were detained in Davao,” Barbers said in his opening remarks.
“Such accusations, if proven true, reveal a systematic abuse of power and a deliberate elimination of individuals for financial gain, all under the pretext of maintaining public order,” he added.
Manila Rep. Bienvenido “Benny” Abante, chair of the Committee on Human Rights, said the testimonies gathered by the panel clearly “illustrate the interconnectedness of wrongdoing, the domino effect of sin – of how evil begets evil.”
“Sana po (Hopefully), in the course of our hearings, we can all finally open our eyes to the fact that the evil of gambling extends far beyond personal sin: it is a societal evil, one that can corrupt our country and destroy lives,” he added.
Meanwhile, former Davao Prison and Penal Farm (DPPF) warden Supt. Gerardo Padilla recanted his previous statement that he knows nothing about the killing of three Chinese nationals inside the prison in August 2016.
He admitted that he had a conversation with then-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group officer, former Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office General Manager Royina Garma, regarding the murder of the three suspected Chinese drug lords Chu Kin Tung, Li Lan Yan, and Wong Meng Pin.
Padilla said he denied having conversation with Garma during the Aug. 28 quad committee hearing “because I was under threat and I am concerned with my safety and that of my family who lives in Davao City.”
He recalled that sometime between 2015 and 2016, when he was acting superintendent of the DPPF, Garma called him using the cellphone of an inmate, Jimmy Fortaleza, and instructed him not to interfere with an operation about to take place inside the facility.
“Prior to such killings, I have been subjected to intense pressure by Garma who called me up through the cellphone of another inmate Jimmy Fortaleza,” Padilla said.
“Chief Garma told me ‘may mga tao kami dyan na gagawa at huwag mo na kwestiyonin, and whether you like it or not, we will operate and do not interfere, baka madamay pa pamilya mo.’ She added that ‘mag cooperate ka na lang or mananagot ka sa amin (Chief Garma told me ‘we have people there who will do it and do not question, and whether you like it or not we will operate and do not interfere, or your family may end up getting involved’. She added that ‘just cooperate or else you will pay the price’),” he continued.
Padilla said Garma’s call left him feeling threatened, and decided not to interfere with the killings of the three suspected Chinese drug lords.
“Although I have not personally met CIDG Garma, I knew the one I talked with was Garma because inmate Jimmy Fortaleza told me Garma wants to talk to me and thereafter handed over to me his cellular phone,” he said.
During the interpellation, Manila 6th District Representative Bienvenido Abante Jr. asked Padilla if the pressure came solely from Garma or someone higher.
Padilla said there was a "bigger person" behind Garma’s orders, and though he hesitated to directly implicate Duterte, he agreed that Garma was acting under the control of a more powerful figure.
“Hindi ko naman ini-implicate pero hawak po sila ng mas mataas (I do not implicate but they are under control of someone higher),” Padilla said.
When clarified by Abante if the "higher person" was Duterte, Padilla replied, “Yes, your honor.”
On Aug. 22, Leopoldo Tan Jr. and Fernando “Andy” Magdadaro told the quad panel that they killed the three Chinese drug lords allegedly upon Duterte’s orders.
Tan said after the killings, he overheard Padilla receiving a congratulatory phone call, allegedly from Duterte, praising him for a job well done. (PNA)
