PROSECUTORS submitted for resolution the human trafficking complaint against suspended Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo on Tuesday, August 6, 2024.
Department of Justice spokesperson Mico Clavano said in an interview that the panel of prosecutors decided during a preliminary hearing not to give Guo and the three other Chinese respondents another extension for them to file their counter-affidavits on the charges.
The court scheduled two hearings on the matter over the past weeks to give the respondents a chance to file their counter-affidavits but Guo and the others were a no-show.
Clavano said three more respondents, including former Technology and Livelihood Resource Center (TLRC) deputy director general Dennis Cunanan, were granted extension to file their response to the complaints over various reasons.
“’Yung iba po ay wala dito sa bansa, ‘yung iba din ay nag change po ng counsel, so yun ‘yung mga reasons. And one was recently impleaded, so tama na rin na nabigyan siya ng extension ng panel of prosecutors,” he said.
(The others are not here in the country, while the others have changed counsel, so those are the reasons. And one was recently impleaded, so it is right that he was given an extension by the panel of prosecutors.)
The Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) and the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) filed in June a criminal complaint of qualified human trafficking against Guo and 13 others over their alleged involvement in the raided illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (Pogo) in Bamban, Tarlac in March.
Hundreds of workers, mostly foreign nationals, were rescued during the raid.
Clavano said the other respondents were able to submit their counter-affidavits.
The next preliminary hearing was set on August 16.
Meanwhile, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) en banc has approved the recommendation of its legal department to file a complaint against Guo for misrepresenting herself, particularly about her nationality and other personal information, when she filed her certificate of candidacy for the 2022 local elections.
Comelec Chairperson George Garcia said Guo will be given the chance to explain her side during a preliminary investigation before the formal filing of complaints before the Bamban regional trial court.
This may result in her removal from the office.
The Office of the Solicitor General also earlier filed a quo warranto petition against Guo and this may also lead to her removal from the office.
Guo has been in hot water amid the conduct of an inquiry by the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality, which questioned her failure to detect the illegal activities involving a raided Pogo situated a few meters away from the municipal hall of Bamban.
This has resulted in lawmakers digging deep into her nationality.
The National Bureau of Investigation earlier ruled, following a fingerprint examination, that she is one and the same person as Chinese national Guo Hua Ping, although the mayor had firmly and repeatedly denied this. (TPM/SunStar Philippines)