PAOCC: Guo faces criminal raps
So we can expect criminal charges will be filed against a good number of people on Friday with regards to the Bamban operation
Daily TribuneSo we can expect criminal charges will be filed against a good number of people on Friday with regards to the Bamban operation
Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo
Photo from PNA
Embattled Bamban Mayor Alice Guo and her cohorts are set to face “serious” and “non-bailable” criminal charges in connection with operating an illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) firm in Tarlac, according to the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) on Saturday.
In a media forum, PAOCC spokesperson Winston John Casio said the criminal charges against Guo will be filed this week for the alleged illegal activities in a compound located behind Bamban’s municipal hall.
“So we can expect criminal charges will be filed against a good number of people on Friday with regards to the Bamban operation,” Casio said.
He said members of an interagency council composed of the PAOCC, Department of Justice, Office of the Solicitor General, and Philippine National Police, among others, “will meet” on Tuesday “to finally decide on the charges to be filed against the incorporators, beneficial owners of Zun Yuan, the Bamban operation.”
A Senate panel investigated the mayor’s questionable identity and background after she was linked to the POGO hub located behind the Bamban town hall that was raided last March, wherein alleged illegal activities were reported.
Casio said Guo’s involvement in the illegal POGO operations in Bamban was proven with her name and signature “on so many documents.”
He disclosed that PAOCC acquired other pieces of evidence against Guo, but he refrained from divulging them “until such time the cases are filed in court.”
“I don’t want to give the lawyers of Mayor Guo what types of evidence we have on hand, specifically since they may get a heads up,” he said.
“All we can say is we have strong evidence that will support the criminal allegations against Mayor Alice Guo and a good number of people in the Bamban operations,” he said.
No probe of Roque’s letter
On the other hand, Casio said there was nothing suspicious about the letter bearing the name of former Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque that was recovered during a search of the POGO hub in Porac, Pampanga.
“The document itself is innocent. The document is not of suspicious or criminal nature,” he said.
PAOCC Undersecretary Gilbert Cruz previously disclosed that the letter, dated 2021, was found inside the Lucky South 99 compound in Porac.
On Saturday, Casio clarified that PAOCC also found an affidavit of support stating that Roque will fund the travel costs of his then executive assistant.
Casio noted that Roque served as a lawyer for Whirlwind Corporation — the company that leased its property to the raided Lucky South 99 Outsourcing Incorporated.
