(INQUIRER) MANILA, Philippines — “They are trying to avoid the Senate investigations here.”
These were Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada’s words when he told reporters on Tuesday that he is convinced that Bamban Mayor Alice Guo’s father and presumed mother have begun hiding abroad.
READ: Mayor Alice Guo’s presumed mother, father left PH on May 20—Gatchalian
“Palagay ko [they] are avoiding it,” he said, pertaining to the Senate panel on women’s investigation on the local chief executive’s supposed ties to illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators in Tarlac.
Earlier, Estrada floated the idea of inviting Jian Zhong Guo to the Senate’s investigations. This, however, wouldn’t be possible if the person being instructed to appear is not in the country.
“You yourself mentioned that they are in China and that they no longer intend to come back. I can’t do anything about that,” said Estrada.
Senator Sherwin Gatchalian previously told INQUIRER.net that the Guo patriarch left the country on May 20. Along with him was Chinese woman Lin Wen Yi, who is presumed to be the mother of Bamban mayor.
Gatchalian likewise bared flight records that supposedly showed Lin travelling with Guo’s father—at least 170 times in a span of seven to eight years.
Their travel destination? Majority is in China.
Guo has been the subject of scrutiny after the Senate panel on women bared her alleged ties to illegal Pogos. The local official, however, denied this allegation, including circulating claims that she is a Chinese spy.