đź“· POLITIKO
BAMBAN Mayor Alice Guo has every reason to deny owning a luxury car as documents showed she actually doesn’t own one – but a fleet of vehicles which include high-end SUVs, pick-up trucks and closed vans.
Citing documents gathered by her staff, Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality chair Risa Hontiveros accused Guo of maintaining quite a number of cars, photos of which were presented to the Senate hearing.
Just like in previous congressional inquiries, Guo may have prepared well in responding to questions hurled by Senate members.
“Hindi ko na siya assets. Buy and sell din po kasi ang negosyo sa Westcars kaya may umiikot na sasakyan. Pero ang sasakyan na gamit ko ngayon GAC,” averred 37-year old Guo who now claims to be an incorporator of Westcars, on top of her piggery, meat shop, farms, and embroidery business.
On this premise, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian butted in and insisted that Guo after all is not an ordinary citizen, as “ordinary people could not possibly own a helicopter,” in reference to a one-on-one interview with broadcast journalist Karen Davila.
“Narinig ko sa interviews mo ordinary ka. Ang isang ordinaryong tao walang chopper. Ang SALN (Statement of Assets Liabilities and Net Worth) mo umaabot sa 300 million. That is not an ordinary person,” a sarcastic Gatchalian told Guo.
The local chief executive of the town where the biggest POGO hub was discovered – and raided twice – earlier admitted owning a chopper for an air-taxi business that didn’t push through, for which Guo claimed to have sold early this year to a British company.
Mayor Guo told the Committee that she was able to venture into different businesses partly through the help of her businessman father who gave her money.
“Minsan 500K, minsan 1 million, 2 million. Hindi naman po siya on a regular basis.”
As far as the McLaren sports car which had her name as license plate, Guo insisted that the luxury sports car isn’t hers but borrowed from a friend so they could join a car show in Concepcion town in Tarlac late last year.
But during the Senate hearing Guo now claims the multi-million car belongs to a car dealer company.
Guo is the subject of multiple investigations over links to illegal POGO hubs in Bamban, questionable citizenship, and suspicion of being a Chinese spy with a marching order to infiltrate Philippine politics.
Few days ago, her name was also dragged into money laundering after discovering that her company Baofu Land Development Inc. had two incorporators involved in money laundering – one of whom has already been meted a jail term over what has been referred to as the “biggest money laundering case in Singapore.” (ANGEL F. JOSE)