PNP security set for Guo transport from Crame to Senate

MANILA – The Philippine National Police (PNP) assured that it can safely transport dismissed Bamban, Tarlac mayor Alice Guo from Camp Crame in Quezon City to the Senate in Pasay City on Monday.

Guo will resume appearance before the continuing investigation into illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs).

PNP spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo said Sunday that they have coordinated with the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms on Friday, after Tarlac Regional Trial Court Branch 109 permitted Guo to attend the hearing, as requested by Senator Risa Hontiveros.

The security convoy will leave the PNP custodial center at 8 a.m.

The hearing presided by the Committees on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality joint with Migrant Workers; and Public Order and Dangerous Drugs will start at 10 a.m.

Fajardo said Guo would be wearing a bulletproof vest and handcuffed, but which may be removed during the actual hearing if the Senate agrees.

"She will board a secured car with female police officers. There will also be members of SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics Team) who will be part of the convoy. She will be in handcuffs during the transportation," Fajardo said in a radio interview.

"We have to take into consideration what she said that she has been receiving death threats. So just like any individual with a threat to life, we have to take this seriously," Fajardo added.

Guo is facing cases of human trafficking, money laundering and graft.

After previous Senate testimonies, she missed the succeeding ones and was able to leave the country undetected in July.

Alleged siblings Shiela and Wesley and suspected POGO incorporator Cassandra Ong also evaded the immigration lookout bulletin order.

She reportedly traveled to Malaysia and Singapore before her arrest in Indonesia on Sept. 3.

Shiela Guo and Ong were first sent home on Aug. 22 after also being caught in Indonesia.

Fajardo said Guo comfortably slept after her arrival on Sept. 6 at the detention cell previously occupied by ex-senator and Justice secretary Leila de Lima, who has been cleared of all drug-related charges.

It has one bed, a comfort room and an electric fan.

"I asked her if she was able to rest well after all the procedures that she went through. She personally told me that she was able to sleep and that she's okay," Fajardo said.

In 2022, De Lima was held hostage inside the custodial center by one of three Abu Sayyaf members who tried to escape.

De Lima survived the hostage-taking while the three terrorists were killed.

Fajardo assured that such would not happen again as they have set up tighter security measures.

"She is the only person in the building and it is far from other detention facilities, especially from the detention cells of male inmates. There are policemen stationed there and there are also policemen manning the watchtowers 24 hours," she said.

Meanwhile, Senior Deputy Speaker and Pampanga 3rd District Rep. Aurelio Gonzales, Jr. on Sunday appealed to Guo and Ong to tell the truth if they are truly Filipinos as they claim.

"Alice Guo and Cassandra Ong are claiming they are Filipinos. If this is true, they owe it to our country to speak up and reveal all they know about these underground POGOs," Gonzales said in a press release.

Gonzales lamented that the reputation of Pampanga has been tainted by the Porac POGO, the September 2023 seizure of P3.6 billion worth of shabu in a warehouse in his hometown Mexico, and the discovery of P1.3 billion worth of illegal drugs in an abandoned car in Mabalacat City in August 2023, all part of the ongoing investigation by the Quad committee of the House of Representatives.

"Kawawa ang probinsiya namin (Our province is pitiful), a progressive growth area in Central Luzon. We should be able to recover from this mess but we should know what really happened with the cooperation of vital witnesses like Miss Ong," he said. (PNA)