(MANILA BULLETIN) Senator Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada on Tuesday, May 28, said he is keen on questioning the father of Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Leal Guo regarding the citizenship of his wife, Amelia Leal-Guo.
Estrada had earlier asked the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality to invite Guo’s father to attend the next public hearing into the mayor’s alleged links with the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) firms in Tarlac that was earlier raided by law enforcement authorities.
During the Senate hearing, Mayor Guo insisted her father is Chinese while her mother is a Filipino. She also claimed she is a love-child, which senators doubted due to the documents provided by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), attesting that her parents are married.
“I was the one who proposed that the father of Alice Guo be invited…Marami dapat tanungin dun. Sino talaga asawa niya? Kung Instik asawa nya e, di Instik nanay ni Alice Guo. Eh di Instik yan, Instik yung tatay eh,” Estrada said in an interview with reporters.
Asked if he is inclined to subpoena the mayor’s father, Angelito Guo if he refuses to appear before the Senate probe, Estrada said “yes.”
Estrada said this is also to contradict speculations the Senate probe into the POGO issue is getting sidetracked.
“Of course you also have to establish the credibility of the person kasi (because) that is also a national security concern,” Estrada pointed out.
“Kasi kung talagang (Because if she is really a) Chinese citizen yan (then) how did she ran as mayor?” he asked.
On top of it, Estrada also said that reports Guo’s alleged politician boyfriend and live-in partner is the running the POGO companies in Tarlac is also “confirmed” despite the mayor’s repeated denial.
“Oo partner niya (yes her partner). (it’s) confirmed.
“Wala akong ano e, personal relationship. Wala ako paki alam sa relasyon. Ang paki alam ko yung sya (alleged Mayor boyfriend) ang nagma-manage ng POGO (I have no interest in their personal relationship. My only concern is that that mayor boyfriend is the one managing the POGO,” the senator lamented.