By Leonardo Micua

 

THE Department of Justice is not buying the narrative given by Sheila Guo, who is actually Zhang Meir, a Chinese, before a Senate panel, that she, dismissed Bamban Mayor Alice Guo and brother Wesley Guo fled the Philippines by taking a boat ride to another until they reached Malaysia.

Justice Secretary Crispin Remulla considers Sheila’s narrative too convenient a tale as it could absolve officials who may have helped facilitate the trio’s daring escape from administrative and criminal liabilities.

The intelligence report relayed to Senator Risa Hontiveros, chairman of the Senate committee on women, children and family relations that is investigating illegal POGOs, indicates that as much as P200 million was shelled out by the three to facilitate their escape.

It is hard to believe that the three risked their lives by taking boats through treacherous waters in the country’s south to evade possible prosecution when they had plenty of cash to bribe their way out of the country.

Sheila and Cassandra Li Ong were intercepted in Indonesia while shopping in a mall and immediately sent back to the Philippines to face the accusations raised against them.

Some lawmakers said they were considering using Sheila as a state witness against Alice Guo but Secretary Remulla cautioned against as the Chinese woman’s statements so far did not appear convincing.

Further, the admission of Sheila that she was born in China from Chinese parents, but is not a biological sister of Alice Guo, and arrived in the Philippines in 2011.

Recall that the NBI also found that Alice’s Guo’s fingerprints were the same of those of a Chinese national named Guo Hua Ping, who entered the country some time ago and went to school at the Chinese Christian School in Quezon City.

Both Alice and Shiela, based on the documents so far unearthed by the Senate from various government agencies, including the Securities and Exchange Commission, bore the same middle name Leal.

It was recently established that the Amelia Leal claimed by Alice as her biological mother does not exist in the records of the civil registry office or the Philippine Statistics Authority.

Connect this to the discovery a few weeks ago that over 1,000 Chinese were found to have been granted late live birth registration in Sta. Cruz, a town in Davao del Sur.

We have a big problem at hand security-wise. If the late registration of live births by foreigners also happened in other areas and is continuing, we could wake up one day and find that the Philippines no longer belongs to us.

A friend jokingly said that if and when war erupts between the Philippines and China, the Chinese no longer need to fire a single shot as they would have planted enough agents here.

Was not Alice Guo, as then mayor of Bamban, Tarlac, earlier suspected by some senators as a planted Chinese spy?

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A report shows ex-Governor Pogi Espino, with the solid backing of his family, is raring to stage a return bout with Governor Ramon Guico III for the top seat in the capitol.

 Pogi has been playing basketball in various towns, stirring the political consciousness of Pangasinenses and his opponents.

With just about a month to go before prospective candidates file their respective COCs on October 1 to 8, Pogi is reportedly set to field a complete line up from governor, congressmen down to mayors and councilors. 

Silently working for Pogi’s capitol comeback is his father, former governor and congressman Amado Espino Jr.

I heard that many capitol employees rejoiced — but of course silently — about their “idol’s” renewed political fight.

Many of his supporters believe that with Smartmatic out as technology provider of the Comelec in the 2025 election, and the South Korean company Miro taking over, Pogi and his candidates will have a better chance in the midterm polls. 

They (not me) insinuated that some hocus-pocus might have happened in the 2022 election. 

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