Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian sees as “premature” suggestions to use Shiela Guo or Zhang Mier as “state witness” against dismissed Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo or Guo Hua Ping.
He said it is still too early to use her a state witness, also in the illegal POGO operations in Bamban, Tarlac and Porac, Pampanga.
He also has misgivings whether Shiela will testify against the former mayor.
“If she will be a state witness, what we want is for her to give information on Alice Guo and what she’s doing, particularly her involvement in POGO,” he said.
He admitted it will be difficult because she and Alice Guo have the same lawyer. ”I also have doubts that Alice Guo is also paying for her lawyer. They just have one lawyer,” added Gatchalian.
Furthermore, the Senator noted that when Shiela first attended the Senate hearing into the illegal POGO operations and the alleged links of the former mayor, Gatchalian stressed that Shiela failed to give concrete details on their escape from the Philippines.
He said there were several gaps and loopholes in her testimonies on her escape with Alice and Wesley Guo, and her association with them and Cassandra Li Ong, the authorized representative of illegal POGO Lucky South 99.
“There were also many inconsistent details. She said it was her first time to be with Cassandra in Malaysia but there was flight details that she was with her and Warren Yu,” also said Gatchalian.
“Shiela also said she has no knowledge about the businesses of the Guo’s but her name appeared in the documents that she’s a corporate secretary, treasurer or chief financial officer and incorporator for the past nine to 10 years. She signed the documents 96 times,” said Gatchalian.
Justice Usec. Nicholas Felix Ty said there’s a possibility that Shiela can be used as a state witness since she’s not the “brain” of the crime.
But this was contradicted by Justice Sec. Jesus Crispin Remulla who does not see Sheila as a “reliable” witness due to the details on their escape.
Testifying before the joint subcommittee of the Senate Justice and Human Rights committee and the committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality on Illegal POGO operations presided by Sen. Risa Hontiveros, Shiela (also known as Zhang Mier) said she fled the country with the former mayor and Wesley at the same time.
She recalled they were picked up by a white van in the Guo farm in Bamban, Tarlac, shortly after dinner at 7:08 pm.
Responding to the question of Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada, Shiela said did not know the name of their driver and the license plate number of the van.
Shiela said they then travelled about five hours until they reached a seaport.
Asked if the port was in Bataan, Zambales or Pangasinan, Shiela said she only knows that it was outside Metro Manila but within Luzon.
Mindanao has been used as back channel for those escaping by seaports.
Shiela also remembered they boarded a small boat before transferring to a big fishing vessel which can accommodate 10 persons. “May mga (fishing) net iyong nilapitan namin,” related Shiela.
After travelling for another five hours, Guo said they moved again to a small blue or green ship until they reached Malaysia.
Shiela, along with Cassandra Li Ong were arrested by Indonesian Immigration authorities in Indonesia. The former mayor and Wesley eluded arrest.
Shiela, is corporate secretary of majority of Guo’s company while Ong is an authorized representative of Lucky South 99, an illegal POGO raided in Bamban, Tarlac.
As senators pressed her relationship to the former mayor, Shiela said their father Jian Zhong Guo said she was her sister.
However, she disclosed that Jian Zhong Guo is not her biological father. She came to know the Guo family through her aunt Lin Wen Yi.
Shiela said Jian Zhong Guo whom she calls Daddy asked her to go to the Philippines to manage their embroidery firms in Quezon City. She was then 17 or 18 years old when she first came to the Philippines and that was the first time she met the former mayor who her Daddy introduced as a younger sister.
Upon questioning by Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, Shiela admitted she has a Chinese and a Filipino passport.
Informed how she got her Filipino passport, Shiela said it was just given to her by her father.
She also denied knowing the contents of the documents related to the Guo family companies where she was named as corporate secretary, treasurer and incorporator. She also told Gatchalian she affixed her signatures without reading or asking about the documents.
The former mayor is reported to be still in Indonesia.
Meanwhile, Sen. Joel Villanueva rebuked law enforcers for failing to closely watch the Guo farm in Tarlac.
Law enforcement agencies like the NBI, PAOCC and DOJ admitted they learned that the former mayor already fled the country only from the privilege speech of Hontiveros delivered August 19.
Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco said last August 15, they got information from the PNP intelligence group that the former mayor already escaped the country but they were yet to validate it.
