ignition casino More Alice Guos? ‘China men’ won local posts
Updated:2024-11-20 03:03 Views:118MANILAignition casino, Philippines — There are locally elected officials who were able to run for office even though they are not Filipinos and are foreign nationals from China.
During the Kapihan sa Senado forum yesterday, Sen. JV Ejercito said he has met these local officials in the provinces who do not look and sound like members of the Filipino-Chinese community.
“I have met elected officials whom I know are ‘China men.’ You would know. I came from a Chinese school and I can distinguish the accent and the features between Filipino-Chinese or Tsinoys and those who are foreigners from China,” Ejercito said.
The senator thus urged the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to be more vigilant against candidates pretending to be Filipinos and prevent another Alice Guo from running in next year’s midterm elections.
“They do not look like they grew up here. This is why the Comelec should be more vigilant and prevent another Alice Guo from being able to run again in our government,” Ejercito said.
The senator expressed hope that the Senate hearings on illegal Philippine offshore gaming operations (POGOs) will result in the passage of a law that will “prevent non-Filipinos from becoming officials and protect the country from planted foreign agents.”
He said allegations that Guo, the dismissed Bamban, Tarlac mayor, was a Chinese spy who faked her Filipino citizenship, should serve as a wake-up call for the government to be more vigilant against China’s alleged infiltration in Philippine politics.
“We are in maritime conflict with China over the West Philippine Sea. We do not want to be infiltrated,” Ejercito said.
The senator expressed belief that there was a “bigger fish” and that Guo was only a “pawn” of a big syndicate behind illegal POGOs.
Guo was able to give names during the executive session with senators, but she feared for her life, according to Ejercito.
For his part, Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada questioned the credibility as witness of Mary Ann Maslog, an accused in the 1998 textbook scam who testified before senators that she helped convince Guo to surrender.
“She is a lunatic! I heard from reliable sources that this woman also helped Guo escape to Indonesia. But those are unverified reports,” Estrada said in an interview at his office in the Senate.
Estrada said Maslog lost her credibility since she hid from her Sandiganbayan case by pretending to be dead and assuming another identity, Jessica Francisco.
“Who is she to negotiate and mediate for Alice Guo to return? She is only a private citizen,” Estrada added.
As for Guo, Estrada called on intelligence agencies to look into the claim of self-confessed Chinese spy She Zhijiang that the mayor also known as Guo Hua Ping was a fellow Chinese spy for China’s Ministry of State Security.
“We have to conduct our own investigation here in the Philippines,” Estrada said.
Comelec: Guo indictedAmid this development, the Comelec has issued a notice of indictment against Guo for misrepresenting herself as a Filipino citizen in the May 2022 national elections.
“(Guo) is indicted as far as the Comelec is concerned,” Comelec Chairman George Garcia said at a press conference yesterday.
Garcia noted that the poll body had previously approved a resolution adopting the recommendation of its law department to file an election offense case against Guo.
“The Comelec believes that she lied in her certificate of candidacy as a mayoral candidate in Tarlac,” Garcia said.
The Comelec chief said they are issuing the notice of indictment to give the dismissed mayor time to look for the legal remedy in the case against her.
Garcia, however, said the Comelec would soon require their Central Luzon regional director to file the case against Guo before the regional trial court in Tarlac.
Garcia also disclosed that the Comelec is contemplating filing a motion for the transfer of trial against Guo from Tarlac to another place.
Guo has decided to abandon her bid to seek reelection as Bamban mayor.
Thus, whether Guo is eligible to run in the May 2025 elections is no longer an issue, according to Garcia.
Lie detector for MaslogMeanwhile, Maslog will undergo a lie detector test after claiming she played a role in the government’s efforts to arrest Guo, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said yesterday.
NBI Director Jaime Santiago noted that he would personally supervise the conduct of the test on Maslog, who is under their custody.
“I myself, with the officer on case, will conduct a lie detector test. We will see what information she is saying,” Santiago said over radio dwPM.
In a separate message on Viber, Santiago said he would first meet with NBI agents before scheduling the lie detector test on Maslog.
Maslog, the prime suspect in the 1998 textbook anomaly, eluded arrest after she faked her own death and lived under a false identity.
During a public hearing of the Senate committee on women, children and family relations, Maslog said she was tapped by the Philippine National Police Intelligence Group (PNP-IG) to act as envoy to Guo’s legal team.
She added that her role was to convince Guo, who was then hiding in Indonesia, to surrender.
Maslog said she flew to Indonesia to persuade Guo to surrender and even visited the former mayor twice at the PNP Custodial Center at Camp Crame where she was detained.
Santiago said they want to find out how a scammer like Maslog became an asset of the PNP.
The PNP, for its part, has launched an investigation on Maslog’s visits to Guo at its custodial facility, particularly the second visit, which apparently was not relayed to then PNP Directorate for Intelligence Brig. Gen. Romeo Macapaz.
Maslog claimed that Macapaz, the newly installed director of the Bangsamoro police, tapped her for the manhunt for Guo, a statement which did not convince senators.
PNP public information officer Brig. Gen. Jean Fajardo said they want to find out if Maslog violated camp protocols with her visit.
“Of course we will see if even General Macapaz conformed to the existing policies with respect to visiting our detainees,” Fajardo said at a news briefing in Camp Crame.
She added that Macapaz was aware of Maslog’s first visit at the custodial facility, which she explained was part of efforts to extract information from Guo on the persons who coddled her when she went into hiding.
“One of the visits was admitted, anyway, by General Macapaz that he was with them together with Atty. Stephen David,” Fajardo said, referring to Guo’s lead counsel.
Fajardo added that whatever dealings Macapaz had with Maslog are only limited to information that would give leads on Guo’s location.
Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission executive director Gilbert Cruz urged the PNP to thoroughly investigate the matter of how Maslog gained access to what is supposedly a highly restricted detention facility.
“Who gave the clearance because all the visits there are cleared by the higher-ups?” Cruz said in Filipino in a message on Viber. – Mayen Jaymalinignition casino, Emmanuel Tupas