Senators on Monday took turns questioning dismissed Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo, who faced them for the first time after her arrest in Indonesia last week.

Far from the cheerful Guo who greeted the media with a beaming smile in Indonesia, she appeared glum at the resumption of the Senate investigation into the raided POGO hub in her town and her alleged ties to it.

Heavily escorted by female personnel of the Philippine National Police, Guo entered the Senate premises in Pasay City wearing a bulletproof vest and Kevlar helmet.

Less than an hour after the Senate committee on women, children and family relations resumed its hearing, its chair Senator Risa Hontiveros cited Guo, also known as Guo Hua Ping, in contempt for “testifying falsely and evasively.”

“I move to cite Guo Hua Ping, also known as Alice Guo, in contempt of the Senate for testifying falsely and evasively before this committee,” said Hontiveros.

Senator Joel Villanueva seconded the motion to cite Guo for contempt for a second time. She was first cited in contempt for repeatedly ignoring the subpoenas issued by the panel in July.

The motion stemmed from her refusal to answer Hontiveros’ question on whether she was the person known as Guo Hua Ping, a Chinese national.

Guo initially said she would answer questions about her identity only in court but later insisted she was a Filipino citizen despite the evidence pointing to her being a Chinese national.

“As far as I know, I am Alice Guo. And I apologize if you don’t believe it,” she told the lawmakers.

Fingerprint match

To recall, the National Bureau of Investigation confirmed that Guo’s fingerprints matched those of Chinese national Guo Hua Ping.

After making the motion to cite her in contempt, Hontiveros said the custody of Guo would remain with the PNP following the arrest order of the Tarlac Regional Trial Court for the graft and corruption charges against her.

“While Ms. Alice is in contempt of the Senate, she will remain in PNP custody. If she posts bail, she will be brought to the Senate, and that’s the part we will coordinate with the court regarding her detention,” Hontiveros said.

The senators failed to get concrete answers from Guo who refused to publicly disclose details of the alleged death threats she received that prompted her to leave the country in July.

“I have death threats. I will reveal them but not in public,” she told the lawmakers, who pressed her about the identity of those threatening her life.

As the hearing progressed, Guo eventually shed light on the death threats she started receiving in June, a month before she departed for Indonesia with her siblings, Sheila and Wesley.

According to her, she received the death threats through phone calls “more than five times.”

The senators prodded Guo to provide more details, but she refused.

She asked to go into an executive session where the public not be present but was turned down by senators.

Escape

At the hearing, Guo confirmed earlier testimony by her supposed sister Shiela that they left the country on a boat.

However, there were discrepancies in their stories as Alice said they boarded a yacht at a port in Metro Manila.

Shiela earlier claimed that they boarded a small white boat, which she said could only accommodate five to 10 people, then transferred to a larger boat. She said they boarded still another boat that took them to Malaysia.

In Alice’s narrative, they left the country in July on a yacht.

Asked by Senator Jinggoy Estrada to name the owner of the yacht and those who facilitated their escape, she refused, saying she was concerned about her safety.

“Is it okay not to discuss it in public?” she asked, which Hontiveros and Estrada opposed.

Estrada then asked her to write down the names of the people who helped them instead. She initially agreed to it on condition the senators would not divulge the names in public.

Hontiveros called out Guo for making such a request, stressing that allowing her to write down the names of those who helped her was already a favor.

“Do not tell the senators what to do with the information. We are doing you a favor in allowing you to write it down on paper,” she told Guo.

Guo maintained the death threats she received prevented her from speaking about the matter publicly, which only intensified the senators’ frustration.

No immigration clearance

Meanwhile, Bureau of Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco, who was relieved from his post on the same day, earlier said that Guo’s Philippine passport did not have any Philippine immigration stamps.

“We examined the information in her passport upon arrival and discovered that she had the same immigration stamps as her purported sister Shiela,” Tansingco said in a statement.

“They left the country illegally without undergoing regular immigration inspection because no Philippine stamps were found in either passport,” he added.