SILENT TREATMENT: Dismissed Bamban Mayor Alice Leal Guo (real name: Guo Hua Ping) invokes her right to remain silent during a public hearing conducted by the Committee of Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality on the alleged illegal activities of of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator hubs in Pampanga and Tarlac on September 17, 2024. (Senate Public Relations and Information Bureau)
MANILA, Philippines – Dismissed Bamban Mayor Alice Guo admitted signing the last page of her counter-affidavit on the human trafficking complaint filed against her by the Department of Justice before she fled the country.
The document in question was dated August 14, days after Guo escaped from Philippine jurisdiction on July 18.
At the Senate panel on women’s Tuesday probe, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian pressed Guo’s close aide to disclose how the ousted mayor was able to sign the document dated August 14 if she had already left the Philippines on July 18.
Cath Salazar, Guo’s secretary and alleged “doppelganger,” said Guo instructed her to retrieve a brown envelope in the former mayor’s house in Bamban, Tarlac.
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“Tumawag po siya, your honor, ang sabi po niya [ay] pumunta raw po ako sa bahay niya [at] may kukuhanin pong isang brown envelope. Noong nakuha ko na po ‘yun, nag-message po ako sa kanya kung anong gagawin ko roon,” Salazar said.
(She called and told me to go to her house and retrieve a brown envelope. When I got it, I messaged her to ask what I would do to it.)
Gatchalian asked which house was Salazar pertaining to. Guo’s secretary said it was in QJJ Farm in Bamban.
Salazar then recalled Guo’s directives to her.
READ: ‘Notaryo’ claims he last saw Guo peering out of vehicle
“Nasa drawer po sa room niya [ang envelope na may papel]. Noong nakuha ko na po, tinanong ko po siya kung anong gagawin ko, ang sabi po niya ay i-attach ko po sa last page ng affidavit po niya,” she explained.
(The envelope containing the paper was in a drawer in her room. After I got it, I asked her what I would do to it and she told me to attach it to the last page of her affidavit.)
MAYOR GUO’S SECRETARY ATTENDS HEARING: Cath Salazar, secretary of dismissed Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo (real name: Guo Hua Ping), tells how Guo instructed her to fetch the former mayor’s counter-affidavit from her room and attached the last page with her signature affixed to the document. (Senate Public Relations and Information Bureau)
At this point, Gatchalian asked Guo to confirm Salazar’s testimony.
“Yung last page po ng document po na-sign ko po bago ako umalis,” Guo said when she was pressed to tell where the documents came from.
(I signed the last page of the document before I left.)
“Na-sign bago ka umalis? Gawa na ba yung affidavit?” Gatchalian asked.
(You signed it before you left? Is the affidavit accomplished by that time?)
Guo said the document was already partially done. Gatchalian, however, pointed out that no cases had been filed at that time.
“Sinign ko po yung last page bago ako umalis. July first week. Na-sign ko po yung last page bago ako umalis,” Guo repeated.
(I signed the last page before I left. July first week. I signed the last page before I left.)
When Gatchalian tried to extract the truth if the ex-mayor knew the affidavit’s contents, Guo opted not to answer.
Senate panel on women head Sen. Risa Hontiveros interjected.
“Ibig sabihin July pa lang noong umalis ka, inihanda mo na yang last page na yan na pirmado mo para ikakabit na lang ni Ms. Cath doon sa counter affidavit mo na later on na lang na-compose?” asked Hontiveros.
(This means that before you left in July, you already prepared the last page and signed it so that Cath would only attach it to the counter-affidavit which was only composed later on. Is that right?)
Guo once again chose not to answer.
Atty. Elmer Galicia, then legal officer of San Jose del Monte City, was the notary who executed Guo’s counter affidavit.
He claimed he physically saw the ousted mayor “through the window” of her vehicle on the night of Aug. 14.