Did Alice Guo flee the Philippines from Pangasinan, and did the mayor of Sual town help her?
This was a line pursued by Senator Risa Hontiveros on Thursday, September 5, as the Senate resumed its investigation into how the Guos were able to leave the country in mid-July despite Senate warrants and an immigration lookout in relation to criminal investigations into shady POGOs (Philippine offshore gaming operators).
Sual, Pangasinan Mayor Liseldo “Dong” Calugay, who had been photographed in the past with dismissed Bamban Mayor Alice Guo, was invited to the Senate on Thursday but he told the panel that he had been diagnosed with dengue “which requires immediate medical attention and rest.”
In response to Hontiveros’ questions, Shiela Guo confirmed that she met Calugay in 2019 through her sister, Alice. She said they met in a restaurant in Pangasinan.
“May relasyon ba si Mayor Calugay at Alice? Magkasosyo ba sila sa business?” asked Hontiveros. (Are Mayor Calugay and Alice in a relationship? Are they business partners?)
“Ang alam ko po, magkaibigan sila (From what I know, they’re friends),” said Shiela.
Calugay’s involvement in Guo and POGOs, presumably, became less vague after the panel went into an executive session with an unnamed resource person.
When the session resumed, Hontiveros later said: “I wish to share that the executive session has surfaced a clear link to Mayor Calugay of Sual…. I really, really hope that the good mayor will make himself available when he is called. ‘Wag po sanang bigla kayong umalis sa bansa, mayor (Please don’t leave the country, mayor).”
She did not provide other details.
In a Senate hearing in May, Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada had asked Alice Guo to confirm if she had a “live-in partner” who was a Pangasinan mayor and who also allegedly ran a POGO in her town. The dismissed Bamban mayor said she was single. Since then, various social media posts alleged that the Pangasinan mayor was Calugay.
To further establish the Guos’ Sual link, Hontiveros brought out a Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) document showing that Shiela owns a company called Alisel Aqua Farm in Sual, and a photo ID of Shiela issued by the Sual municipal government for account insurance membership.
Shiela denied what was in the documents, claiming that somebody might have used her identity. “Wala po akong alam (I don’t know anything),” said Shiela.
Unconvinced, Hontiveros told Shiela, “I really regret na hindi kayo mas makatotohanan at mas helpful sa komiteng ito.” (I really regret that you have not been more truthful and helpful to this committee.)
Shiela earlier said they fled the Philippines by boat starting from a point in Luzon, but she has not been able to specify which point.
Theories abound about the Guos’ point of departure in the Philippines, whether it was Pangasinan or Zambales, where there was a supposed sighting of Alice Guo in a resort there on July 14.
The owner of the Emon Pulo resort in San Antonio, Zambales, told the Senate on Thursday that someone there looked very much like Alice Guo, but was not the mayor. The owner did say that Alice Guo had been to their resort in May 2023 for a party of a business partner. – Rappler.com
