Bato: Malacañang orders implications of Duterte, allies to POGO

Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa on Tuesday floated the alleged plan of “somebody” from Malacañang to implicate former president Rodrigo Duterte and his allies in the illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations (POGOs).

Dela Rosa made the accusation during the resumption of the joint hearing of the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality, along with Migrant Workers and Public Order and Dangerous Drugs, focusing on POGOs in Bamban, and the alleged ties of dismissed Bamban, Tarlac mayor Alice Guo.

Visibly upset, Dela Rosa, without naming names, confronted Jessica Francisco, also known as Mary Ann Maslog, about the alleged plan.

“For the record, I have information that you are being used to let Alice Guo sign an affidavit that implicates [former] president Duterte, Senator Bong Go, Senator Bato, [former] CIDG chief Romeo Caramat Jr. as the people behind the POGOs,” Dela Rosa said.

“Someone from Malacañang was ordering you to do so. I can pin you down. My god! Stop tilting your head! I know that information. Is that correct?” he added.

Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada echoed the same question and asked Francisco about who accompanied her during her visit to Guo.

Responding to the lawmaker’s query, Francisco admitted to visiting Guo at least twice at the custodial center.

“The first time I visited there, I was still with the IG,” she said, referring to the intelligence group of the Philippine National Police.

Senators turned to PNP Intelligence Group chief Brig. Gen. Romeo Macapaz to ask him about Francisco’s alleged role in Guo’s arrest in Indonesia.

Macapaz, for his part, said Francisco had volunteered to be part of the arrest of Guo in Indonesia, as the latter claimed that she could convince the dismissed local chief executive to return to the Philippines.

Francisco earlier claimed that she had helped the Philippine authorities capture Guo in Indonesia last month based on a text message from the Indonesian authorities.

This prompted Dela Rosa to make a motion to cite Francisco in contempt for supposedly lying to the Senate panel.

Francisco was also asked if she is Mary Ann Maslog, who allegedly faked her death after being implicated in the 1998 textbook scam.

Francisco refused to answer the question, insisting that the case is still pending at the Sandiganbayan.

However, the National Bureau of Investigation confirmed that Maslog and Francisco are the same person, based on their fingerprints.

Maslog, a former textbook agent, allegedly tried bribing officials of the Department of Budget and Management in 1999 to favor her firm on a P200 million textbook contract.

However, before the Office of the Ombudsman came up with the decision in 2020, Maslog was pronounced dead by her counsel, leading to the dismissal of her case.