CREDIBILITY ISSUES. Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) spokesperson Winston Casio cast doubts over claims made by Mary Ann Maslog that she was involved in investigating dismissed Bamban, Tarlac mayor Alice Guo, during an ambush interview at the Department of Justice on Wednesday (Oct. 9, 2024). Casio said Maslog’s claims are only muddling the investigations. (PNA photo by Ben Pulta)
MANILA – The Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on Wednesday cast doubts over claims made by Mary Ann Maslog that she was involved in investigating dismissed Bamban, Tarlac mayor Alice Guo.
In a Senate hearing, Maslog claimed being recruited by the Philippine National Police (PNP) to contact Guo during her escape.
“Lahat kami nabigla kahapon (We were all dumbfounded yesterday),” PAOCC spokesperson Winston Casio told reporters in a chance interview at the Department of Justice (DOJ).
He also noted Maslog’s lack of credibility.
“So far wala pa, ngayon nakakagulo pa lang siya sa imbestigasyon. Alam mo kapag ang tao walang credibility, meron ka pang mapipiling paniwalaan? So depende sa taong bayan kung anong paniniwalaan kung meron ba o wala (Right now she is only muddling the investigation. If a person has no credibility, can you choose what to believe in what she says? So, it will depend on the people on what to believe),” Casio said.
Meanwhile, NBI Director Jaime Santiago said his office would interview Maslog, who now goes by the name Jessica Francisco, over her claims, including her insistence that she had gone to Indonesia to persuade Guo to surrender to Philippine authorities.
“We will subject her to tactical interrogation. Nagkaroon na ako ng initial talk sa kanya. Talagang ‘yung observation ng Senate na con artist siya, liar, talagang ang daming storya. Kung paniniwalaan mo siya, mawawala na naman siya (I had an initial talk with her. The Senate’s observation really is that she is a con artist, a liar, who has tall tales. And once people believe her, she vanishes again),” Santiago said in an interview with Teleradyo.
He also said the claim made by Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa that Maslog had been ordered to implicate senior officials in the past administration is highly unlikely.
“Napakalayo sa storya po. Wala po ganoong storya. ‘Yan po ay tututukan namin ng investigation. Si Jessica Francisco, Maslog, iisa. Iyan ay mukha talagang magugulo tayong lahat pagka pinakinggan natin siya. Hayaan n’yo po kaming mag-conduct ng tactical interrogation (There is no such story. We will look into that in the investigation. Jessica Francisco and Maslog are the same person. If we listen to her, we might be misled. Let us complete the tactical interrogation),” he said.
Maslog was implicated in a PHP24 million textbook procurement scam in 1998 and was able to avoid being charged after she faked her death in 2019.
She then changed her name to Jessica Francisco.
PNP: Maslog voluntarily spilled the beans
The Philippine National Police (PNP), meanwhile, said Maslog volunteered to provide information on the whereabouts of Guo that led to her arrest in Indonesia.
This is contrary to Maslog’s claim that she was tapped by then PNP Director for Intelligence Brig. Gen. Romeo Macapaz to help in the hunt against Guo.
PNP spokesperson Brig. Gen. Jean Fajardo said an investigation is underway into Maslog’s visits to Guo, who is detained at the force’s custodial facility in Camp Crame.
Fajardo said Macapaz was aware of Maslog’s first visit to the facility, which she said was part of efforts to extract information from Guo on the persons who coddled her when she fled the country.
“We really have to check on that. Gen. Macapaz only told me, 'Jean, this is just part of our intelligence gathering, case buildup and whatever we have talked about there, we really cannot reveal because it concerns national security'. That was the term he used when he talked to each other earlier,” she said in a press briefing at Camp Crame.
She, however, said Macapaz, who is now the chief of the Police Regional Office in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, was unaware of Maslog’s second visit to the facility.
Fajardo said Macapaz’s dealings with Maslog are limited to information that would give leads on Guo’s location.
She also said Maslog was not with Macapaz, then-Interior Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr., and PNP chief Gen. Rommel Francisco Marbil during their travel to Indonesia to get Guo.
“The content of his engagement is part of his (Macapaz) as an intelligence officer. As part of the functions of the PNP, when we get information, we don’t choose our sources but what is important we have to vet and validate the information that we get and even the source, if these are reliable, and if there is a semblance of truth. What is important here is there was no deal with Maslog,” Fajardo said. (With Lloyd Caliwan/PNA)
