Here’s a quick roundup of today’s top stories:
Alice Guo now under custody of PH authorities
Dismissed Bamban, Tarlac mayor Alice Guo (Guo Hua Ping) will be brought to the Philippine National Police (PNP) headquarters in Camp Crame, Quezon City upon her arrival in the Philippines from Indonesia on Thursday.
In a press briefing, PNP Spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo said Guo is expected to arrive in Manila at around 6:00 p.m.
Shiela Guo’s arrival stamp in Sabah, Malaysia fake – Hontiveros
Sen. Risa Hontiveros revealed at a Senate hearing on Thursday that the Sabah stamp on Shiela Guo’s passport was fake.
Shiela was previously identified as the sister of dismissed Bamban Mayor Alice Guo, who is the subject of a Senate probe over her supposed ties to Philippine offshore gaming operators (Pogos).
Wesley Guo intends to surrender, says lawyer
Wesley Guo, dismissed Bamban mayor Alice Guo’s sibling, intends to surrender to authorities, according to his legal counsel Atty. Stephen David.
Speaking to reporters in an ambush interview in the Senate on Thursday, David said Wesley had expressed his intent to surrender. He, however, refused to disclose additional details, citing client and lawyer privileges.
Cassandra Ong unwell, skips Senate probe into Alice Guo escape
Alice Guo’s alleged business associate Cassandra Ong skipped the Senate subpanel on justice’s Thursday hearing on the dismissed Bamban mayor’s escape from the Philippines, as she is reportedly sick and hospitalized.
During the hearing, subpanel head Risa Hontiveros asked the committee secretary if Ong would attend, but the secretary confirmed that Ong would not be present.
Small meteor lights up Philippine sky
A small, bright meteor lit up skies over the northern Philippines early Thursday as it burned up entering the Earth’s atmosphere, the European Space Agency and witnesses said.The one-meter (3.3-foot) space rock, named 2024 RW1, collided with the Earth’s atmosphere shortly after midnight (1639 GMT Wednesday) and caused a “harmless” but “spectacular fireball” over the Philippines’ Luzon island, the ESA said.The meteor, discovered through the Catalina Sky Survey, is only the ninth meteor that humans have ever spotted before impact.
Businessman Allan Madelar, 28, told AFP he waited an hour in Gonzaga, a municipality in Luzon, to watch the meteor with a friend.