Senator Sherwin Gatchalian (left) and Bamban Mayor Alice Guo | PHOTOS: Senate PRIB and INQUIRER.net
Suspended Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo cannot be made a state witness in the ongoing probes into illegal Philippine offshore gaming operators (Pogos) in Pampanga and Tarlac, according to Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian.
However, he added that she could “reduce her culpability” by cooperating with separate special teams tasked with investigating her involvement as well as that of her family and friends.
“She cannot [be made state witness] because she is not the least guilty,” Gatchalian said in a statement to Senate reporters on Thursday.
“She is at the center of the Hong Sheng Pogo hub [in Bamban] by applying for the Letter of No Objection and other LGU (local government unit) permits,” he added.
Gatchalian earlier urged Guo, also known as Guo Hua Ping, to cooperate with authorities and reveal crucial information about the activities and key players of Pogos involved in nefarious activities.
“To reduce her culpability, she can reveal everything she knows about the operations of both the Bamban Pogo and the Porac Pogo, as the two are interconnected,” he said, adding that several other cases could be filed against Guo.
Guo has been charged with nonbailable qualified human trafficking by the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) and the Philippine National Police’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, along with several others.
READ: Bamban Mayor Alice Guo charged with human trafficking
Preliminary probe
The Department of Justice said the preliminary investigation of the qualified human trafficking complaint is set to begin on Friday, July 5.
Other respondents in the complaint are former government official and pork barrel scam convict Dennis Cunanan, Zhang Ruijin, Baoying Lin, Rachelle Joan Carreon, Huang Zhiyang, Thelma Laranan, Rowena Evangelista, Rita Yturralde, Merlie Joy Castro, Yu Zheng Can, Jaimielyn Cruz, Roderick Paul Pujante, and Juan Miguel Alpas.
READ: NBI findings prove Alice Guo ‘a fake Filipino’ – senators
The PAOCC said Huang Zhiyang, Guo’s alleged business partner who is still at large, is believed to be a fugitive in China.
Zhang Ruijin and Lin Baoying were both convicted in Singapore for their involvement in a multibillion-dollar money laundering case, it added. —WITH A REPORT FROM JANE BAUTISTA