Alice Guo asks SC to stop Senate from using her as resource person

The camp of Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo asks SC to stop the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations, and Gender Equality from inviting her as a resource person and nullify the subpoena issued against her. Photo by Tetch Torres-Tupas/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines — Saying that her life, liberty, and security were put in danger, Bamban Mayor Alice Guo on Wednesday asked the Supreme Court (SC) to stop the Senate from using her as a resource person in its committee hearings related to the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (Pogos) and their involvement in criminal activities.

Guo, through her lawyers, also urged the SC to annul and set aside the subpoena issued by the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations, and Gender Equality for her to attend the July 10 hearing.

During Wednesday’s Senate hearing, Guo was held in contempt and ordered arrested for failing to attend the inquiry.

READ: Alice Guo and 7 others cited for contempt, ordered arrested

Guo was dragged into the controversy after the Philippine Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) raided a Pogo hub in Bamban, Tarlac and rescued hundreds of foreign workers.

The local government of Bamban gave the Pogo hub a permit to operate.

Authorities found that Zun Yuan Technology’s electric meter was registered under Guo’s name, and a vehicle inside the facility was also registered under her name.

In her petition for certiorari and/or prohibition with extremely urgent prayer for a temporary restraining order, Guo said the Senate panel chaired by Senator Risa Hontiveros committed grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction for continuously violating her constitutional rights to due process and right to privacy.

Citing the Senate transcript of stenographic notes for the May 7 and 22 hearings when she was invited as a resource person, Guo’s camp said that “she was never afforded any opportunity to sufficiently explain her side whenever a certain issue was raised.”

She also lamented that even her personal information no longer related to the Senate inquiry was made public.

“Petitioner’s private life was mocked, dishonored, and became the subject of public ridicule, memes, gossips, and malicious public prosecution. As a result, petitioner’s life, liberty, and security were put in actual danger as she received threats from inside and outside the country,” read her petition.

She urged the SC “to caution investigating entities that information-sharing must observe strict confidentiality.”

“Intelligence gathered must be released exclusively to the authorities empowered to receive the relevant information. After all, inherent to the right to privacy is the freedom from ‘unwarranted exploitation of one’s person or from intrusion into one’s private activities in such a way as to cause humiliation to a person’s ordinary sensibilities,” the petition read.