THE Senate committee on women, children, family relations, and gender equality conducted an executive session with dismissed Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo to reveal details she did not want to disclose to the public.
Senator JV Ejercito proposed holding a closed-door session with Guo, which was later approved and conducted by the Senate panel in the office of Majority Leader Francis Tolentino.
Ejercito made this announcement amidst Guo’s assertion that she was not the “mastermind” behind the POGO operations in Bamban, Tarlac, describing herself as “just a victim.”
“I am not guilty… I did not use it. If ever, if I have helped in any way, I am a helpful person. If there is anything, that’s it. In the activities or allegations, I am not involved,” Guo said.
“I think, after the long investigation, the committee already knows, especially chaired by our madam chairman who’s really at the back of everything,” she added.
When asked if she was willing to name the “most guilty” individual, Guo said, “Yes, your honor.”
“I think it’s the first time I heard Guo Hua Ping say that we have made progress in the whole story, who is the highest-ranking person behind these POGOs in the Philippines, and another thing we want to know is who among the government personnel or officials helped in the escape even for monetary considerations,” Hontiveros stated.
Before the committee approved the motion to conduct an executive session, Guo requested that it be done in the presence of her two legal counsels who did not attend the hearing on that day.
