The ongoing Senate investigation into the alleged link of Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo to the raided Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator in her town is “not an attack on Filipinos of Chinese heritage.” This was stressed on Monday by Senator Risa Hontiveros who spearheads the investigation by the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations, and Gender Equality, which she chairs.

“My own maternal great-grandmother was pure Chinese. The revelations about Mayor Alice Guo came out after evidence of her complicity in POGO-related crimes. And the other evidence comes directly from her own words,” Hontiveros said.

According to the senator, a “lot of evidence” has been gathered against POGOs in the last eight hearings that her committee had initiated.

“Among these is the proliferation of fake identification documents from PhilHealth IDs to passports,” she said, describing it as proof that syndicates “have managed to obtain fraudulent Filipino identities through corrupt individuals in our government agencies.”

“And what’s worse is Mayor Guo — she is a public servant,” she said.

Hontiveros’s panel will conduct an executive session on Guo with representatives from the executive branch and intelligence agencies.

“We have executive departments and agencies, including intel agencies, that want to participate in our committee investigation but they cannot divulge anything yet in open hearing. We will be holding an executive session this time around,” she said in a television interview on Monday.

China influence

Citing the alleged involvement of POGOs based in Bamban in hacking and surveillance activities, Hontiveros said the Senate would be “remiss” if it did not dig deeper into the issue.

“Considering China’s aggressive influence operations around the world, it would be remiss of the Senate not to look into this angle,” she said.

“Several government agencies still have more to reveal about the POGOs, which they will do in an executive session before the next public hearing,” she added.

She stressed the ongoing Senate investigation is “not a witch hunt” nor “about politics.”

“This is not about politics. This is about national security, criminal activities, accountability in public service, the rights and welfare of women and children, and the structural failure of our system to regulate POGOs as a business model,” she said.

Xenophobia, Sinophobia

Moreover, Hontiveros appealed to the public not to engage in discrimination, particularly against Chinese nationals living in the Philippines.

“In the midst of all this, I repeat my reminder that racism, xenophobia, and Sinophobia are never acceptable,” she said.

“Regardless of our heritage, all law-abiding citizens should not be the subject of hate and discrimination,” she added.

During the continuation of the Senate hearing last week, senators learned that Guo’s biological parents, Angelito Guo and Amelia Leal, were listed as Filipinos on her birth certificate.

Mayor Guo claimed that her father, who only visited her occasionally at the farm where she grew up, was not a Filipino but a Chinese citizen holding a Chinese passport.

It was also revealed that the embattled local chief executive has two siblings with her biological mother.

Guo, in an exclusive television interview, claimed her Filipino mother was her father’s house help who abandoned her after she was born.

Guo’s questionable identity and background came under Senate scrutiny after she was linked to the POGO hub located behind the Bamban town hall that was raided last March.

Earlier, Senator Win Gatchalian showed suspicious documents linking Guo to Zun Yuan Technology Inc. which was operating in the 10-hectare compound behind the town hall.