SENATOR Risa Hontiveros revealed on Tuesday, May 21, 2024, the alleged links of Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo to foreign “criminals.”
In a statement, Hontiveros said Guo’s fellow incorporators in Baofu Land Development Inc., particularly Chinese national Zhang Ruijin and Dominican national Baoying Lin, were involved in illegal activities.
She said Zhang was convicted last month for being linked to the reported “largest money laundering case in Singapore.”
According to a report by Channel News Asia, Zhang has "$41 million in assets overseas, including shareholdings in a Philippine real estate development company."
She said Baoying Lin is also facing criminal charges.
"Ayon mismo kay mayor, tinulungan daw siya ng mga kaibigan niya para makatakbo sa eleksyon nung 2022. Itong mga kriminal at puganteng kaibigan ba ang sinasabi niya?" Hontiveros said.
(According to the mayor himself, his friends helped him to run in the elections in 2022. Are these criminals and fugitive friends he is talking about?)
"Kahit pa sabihin niyang nag-divest na siya sa Baofu bago tumakbo, the fact remains: she has ties with these criminals. Kaya ba siya tumakbong mayor para maprotektahan niya ang mga kaibigan niya? I am looking forward to our hearing on Wednesday. Sana naman may maalala na si mayor," she added.
(Even if she says that she divested from Baofu before running, the fact remains: she has ties with these criminals. Did she run for mayor to protect her friends? I am looking forward to our hearing on Wednesday. I hope the mayor remembers something.)
During the resumption of the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations, and Gender Equality probe into the raided Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (Pogo) in Bamban on Wednesday, May 22, 2024, Guo said she was not aware of her former business partners’ involvement in illegal activities until Hontiveros made the revelation.
“Nalaman ko lang po kahapon doon sa Facebook post niyo po. After ko malaman, sinearch ko po sila, ang kausap ko po sa Baofu ay si Huang Zhiyang. ‘Yung dalawa po hindi ko po nakausap,” she said.
(I just found out about it through your Facebook post yesterday. After I found out, I searched them, the person I spoke to at Baofu was Huang Zhiyang. I didn't talk to those two.)
“Kahapon nakita ko sa Facebook post niyo po na sila ay money launderer sa Singapore at nag-research ako through Google din at nakita ko ay ‘yung dalawa ay sangkot sa money laundering sa Singapore at kahapon ko lang nalaman gawa ng nakita ko sa Facebook post niyo, Madam Chairman,” she added.
(Yesterday, I saw on your Facebook post that they are money launderers in Singapore and I also researched through Google and found that those two are involved in money laundering in Singapore and I only found out yesterday because of what I saw on your Facebook post, Madam Chairman.)
Hontiveros took a jab at Guo for not exercising “due diligence” in her business dealings.
She also noted that another incorporator in Baofu, Huang Zhiyang, is also an identified fugitive who is being hunted by the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission.
Baufo, which is within the vicinity of Bamban, Tarlac municipal hall, houses the Zun Yuan Technology Incorporated (ZYTI), the Pogo hub raided by the police in March 2024 over its involvement in illegal activities, among which was human trafficking.
ZYTI is also allegedly involved in surveillance activities and hacking of government websites.
Guo said she never thought that her business partners were criminals, noting that Huang, whom she often transacts with, goes in and out of the country most of the time.
Hontiveros also grilled Guo about her parents after she claimed that her mother served as a household helper of her father who is a Chinese national.
The lawmaker said the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) does not have Guo’s parents’ marriage or birth records.
Based on her birth certificate, Guo’s father was Jian Zhong Guo, while her mother was Amelia Leal.
“So maitatanong talaga, hindi po kaya, Angelito Guo and Amelia Leal Guo don’t even exist? Itong dalawang taong ito na according to the documentary evidence have three children na according naman to you only have one child, apparently do not even exist?” said Hontiveros.
(So it can be asked, isn't it possible that Angelito Guo and Amelia Leal Guo don't even exist? These two people who according to the documentary evidence have three children, who according to you only have one child, apparently do not even exist?)
Guo, in the previous hearing, said she was the only child of her parents but she confirmed a PSA data that showed she has two siblings, Shiela Leal Guo and Seimen Leal Guo.
She said she refused to reveal her siblings in the previous hearings because she respects their privacy.
However, the date of marriage of their parents was dated “October 14, 1962” in Mayor Guo and Shiela’s records, while on Seimen’s, it was declared “January 21, 1967.”
Guo maintained she is not privy to the inconsistencies in their birth certificate as she was not the one who prepared it.
Hontiveros earlier doubted the Filipino citizenship of Guo, who only registered her live birth with the PSA when she was already 19 years old (earlier reported 17 years old).
Guo also does not have a hospital record of birth and even school records as she claimed she was home-schooled. (TPM/SunStar Philippines)