By Leonardo Micua

IT’S been more than one month since the 22 provincial officials returned from their “official” trip to the United States from June 1 to 9, but not one has reported gains made for the province and people from that trip, if any.

It is incumbent upon them as public officials to report about their trip to prove that they did not waste the money of the people when they traveled to the U.S. most expensive city, New York.

Not even Vice Governor Mark Lambino or the Provincial information Officer, Dhobie de Guzman,  according to our source, was willing to talk about this foreign trip,  which, to many, had all the trimmings of a junket.

Their deafening silence fans the suspicion all the more that the sojourn in New York of these officials was really a pleasure trip, a repeat of their travel last year and got away with it. They perhaps thought that since nobody questioned their first mass sojourn to the U.S. last year, they can freely do it again. . . and again as long as they are in power.

Who can stop people from suspecting that the foreign trip was given as a reward to the 22 provincial officials for their canine devotion to whoever wields power at the Urduja House?

These officials reportedly only joined the Filipino-Americans in celebrating the 126th Philippine Independence Day, which, we say, was definitely not a good reason to spend a huge sum of money from the coffers of the people.

Having worked in government for a long time before, we know that study tours or Lakbay Aral in foreign lands by a big delegation had long been banned by the COA and even the office of the president.

So, if COA–the guardian of people’s money–is really sincere in protecting public funds, it must look keenly into this foreign trip of public officials and ascertain whether that trip was really necessary.

The report on social media that the trip of the 22 provincial officials, with their respective spouses, could have spent a staggering sum of U.S. dollars for round-trip plane tickets, hotel accommodations, daily per diems for shopping and payment of mandatory winter allowance for them could never be doubted.

If they say that they used their personal funds to bankroll their expenses in that nine-day holiday or junket, they can tell that to the marines.

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More damning revelations surfaced during the resumption of the Senate hearings on the evils of POGO (Philippine Offshore Gaming OperatIons) that was showed on You Tube live for everybody to see.

 Finally, the Pagcor chair revealed under oath that it was reportedly Atty. Harry Roque, ex-cabinet member of the Duterte administration who allegedly approached him and sought his help to facilitate the approval of the license of one POGO hub.

 But that was not the biggest bombshell that was detonated in that Senate hearing.

Conspicuously absent were the embattled suspended Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice  Guo, her parents, and two siblings, one Nancy Gamo and Dennis Cunanan, former director of the defunct Technology Resource Center, who was tagged as facilitator of the POGO hubs in both Bamban and Porac, Pampanga, and many others.

 For their absence, Senator Risa Hontiveros, chair of the committee on women, children, family relations and gender equality, did not waste time in citing them in contempt and are liable to be arrested soon.

 Another lie of Guo disproved was when she claimed to have been raised in a piggery farm and was only on home schooling under a teacher Rubilyn, with no memory of her childhood life.

 Senator Sherwin Gatchalian showed proof that a Guo Hua Ping, who is actually Alice Leal Guo, enrolled at a Chinese school in Quezon City.

 The NBI earlier confirmed that the fingerprints of the suspended Bamban Mayor and Guo Hua Ping, a Chinese, are one and the same.

 Since there is a universal rule that no two persons, even twins, have the same finger prints, it can be assumed without fear of contradiction that Alice Leal Guo is Guo Hua PIng, a Chinese.

 The other Alice Leal Guo who has the same date and place of birth as that of the suspended Bamban Mayor but with a different face could not be found by the NBI in the addresses she indicated when she sought clearance in the past.

 it’s time to let the ax fall where it should.

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