2024.11.26 参议院结束对非法 POGOS 的调查，将 Alice Guo 的命运交由法庭裁决
Senate ends probe on illegal POGOS, leaves Alice Guo’s fate to courts
MANILA, Philippines — The Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations, and Gender Equality concluded its investigation on Tuesday into the illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) in Tarlac and Pampanga.
It took 16 hearings before the committee closed the investigation, which highlighted some of the crimes linked to POGO such as large-scale scamming, corruption, kidnapping, torture, prostitution, and human trafficking.
In her closing statement, Committee Chairman Sen. Risa Hontiveros said that the panel had exposed Guo Hua Ping also known as former Bamban, Tarlac mayor Alice Guo, a Chinese citizen, who had allegedly “defamed the identity of a Filipino, amassed wealth, and committed crimes against genuine Filipinos.”
The lawmaker said that Guo abused birth certificate registration, immigration procedures, passport and visa applications, setting up businesses in the name of a company, bank secrecy, and the privilege of participating and running for office in elections.
2024.11.26 一些大型 POGO 公司正在分裂成一些小集团，其中一些将自己标榜为业务流程外包公司
Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) director Winnie Quidato told the committee that some big POGO companies are splintering into smaller groups, with some branding themselves as business process outsourcing companies.
“So iba-iba po ang style po nila but most of them, nagiging mga guerrilla groups na into 10s, 20s where before they were operating in thousands. So just like what we found in Parañaque when we raided the Parañaque group, nakita po namin sa isang subdivision na mayroon silang inokupa na 45 houses within the subdivision,” the PAOCC official said.
(So they employ different styles but most of them are becoming guerrilla groups working in 10s, 20s, whereas before they were operating in thousands. So just like what we found in Parañaque when we raided the Parañaque group, we saw a subdivision where POGOs occupied 45 houses within the subdivision.)
2024.11.26 Still no answer on how Guo left PH. “Unfortunately at this point, we cannot say with finality how she was able to depart from the Philippines. But the Bureau of Immigration commits to continue on the investigation and continue coordinating with other concerned agencies in the Philippines and other immigration officials from other countries,” BI Commissioner Joel Anthony Viado said. Viado added that the bureau had already asked its foreign counterparts and is now awaiting more information about the escape of the Guo siblings.
2024.11.26 Dismissed Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo is an “agent of influence”, according to the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) on Tuesday, November 26. However, the NICA cannot conclusively say that Guo is a foreign intelligence agent just yet.
NICA exec: Guo may be an agent of influence
MANILA – National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) Deputy Director Francisco Acedillo on Tuesday told the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality that dismissed Bamban, Tarlac mayor Alice Guo is possibly an “agent of influence.”
During the panel’s last hearing on criminal activities perpetuated by Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators and alleged spying activities by Chinese agents on Philippine soil, Acedillo explained that Guo can be categorized as such because she uses her influence, stature, or position to influence public opinion or decision-making “to produce results beneficial to the country whose services they benefit from.”
“So, to that effect, Madam Chair, that is applicable to her and therefore, she may be classified as such. Although we would like to acknowledge that there is no law currently that defines it as such,” Acedillo told Senate Deputy Minority Leader Risa Hontiveros who chairs the panel. “However, intelligence and counterintelligence convention, which falls under our purview, recognizes that convention.”
“However, within the historical context, given that these activities have been common especially during the Cold War, the activities and the facts that have come to light so far in this committee and in other committees, especially in the House (of Representatives), point to the fact that she (Guo) is (an agent of influence). And even in discussions within the intelligence community, there is consensus that indeed she is an agent of influence,” he added.
Acedillo clarified that an “agent of influence” is different from a “foreign intelligence agent” who should have been trained, employed, and supervised or controlled by an intelligence agency.
Guo is suspected to be a Chinese spy after a documentary by news network Al Jazeera revealed her supposed links to She Zhijiang, a self-confessed Chinese spy detained in Thailand and who alleged that he has been working with the dismissed mayor. (PNA)
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Alice Guo an ‘agent of influence’ — NICA
MANILA, Philippines — Dismissed Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo is an “agent of influence”, according to the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) on Tuesday, November 26.
However, the NICA cannot conclusively say that Guo is a foreign intelligence agent just yet.
During the Senate’s final hearing on Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations (POGOs), NICA Deputy Director General Francisco Acedillo stated the distinction between the two.
For Guo to be determined as a foreign intelligence agent, there needs to be an intelligence agency that trained, employed, supervised and controlled her. Then the NICA would need confirmation from that agency itself.
“We have not come to that determination yet,” Acedillo said.
This only leaves the possibility that Guo is an “agent of influence”.
Acedillo said that there is no legal definition yet for what an agent of influence is yet. However, the NICA executive said that there are several ways to define an agent of influence, which includes using one’s influence, stature, or position to influence public opinion or decision-making to produce benefits from their host country.
All of this applied to Guo, who was able to secure a mayoral position despite her identity allegedly being faked.
“Given that these activities have been common, especially during the Cold War, the activities and the facts that have come to light so far, in this committee and in other committees, especially in the House, point to the fact that she is. And even within the intelligence community, there is consensus that indeed she is an agent of influence,” Acedillo said.
Guo has previously been tagged as a Chinese spy by She Zhijiang — a Chinese businessman who claims to be a spy for China.
In an explosive Al Jazeera report, She shared documents that said Guo was a spy. He urged Guo to just tell the truth, as China will not protect her.
However, suspicions that Guo was a spy stretched to the earlier POGO hearing, when she failed to recall basic details about her birth.
The National Bureau of Investigation eventually confirmed that Guo was Chinese national Guo Hua Ping. However, Guo remained insistent that she is a Filipino.
Guo faces multiple cases, including money laundering, human trafficking, misrepresentation and more.
2024.11.26 Alice Guo unable to attend Senate Pogo probe due to scheduling conflict
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