BY BROOKE VILLANUEVA PUBLISHED JUL 13, 2024 9:59 AM UPDATED JUL 13, 2024 10:04 AM

Senator Risa Hontiveros / Facebook

The Senate issued arrest orders against suspended Bamban mayor Alice Guo and seven others for skipping the hearings on the raided POGO hub in their place.

A copy of the July 11 arrest order was released to the media by panel head Senator Risa Hontiveros on July 13, stating it was issued “for unduly refusing to appear despite due notices” at the hearings on June 26 and July 10. It noted that their repeated absences are “delaying, impeding, and obstructing” the investigation into the reported violation of human trafficking, serious illegal detention, and physical abuse and torture in the premises of an internet gaming licensee of the Philippine Amusement Gaming Corporation and other related resolutions.

Arrest orders were also issued against ex-government official Dennis Cunanan, her former accountant Nancy Gamo, as well as her family members Sheila Guo, Wesley Leal Guo, Jian Zhong Guo, Seimen Guo, and Wen Yi Lin.

The Office of the Sergeant-At-Arms was directed to implement the order within 24 hours.

The mayor previously wrote a letter asking to be excused from the hearings due to health and mental health concerns. Hontiveros, however, noted there’s no medical certificate.

Guo in her letter explained that doctors didn’t issue a medical certificate for fear of being supposedly ridiculed like her. “We find her claims in the letter void of credibility,” Hontiveros said.

Guo has been subject to scrutiny since she was allegedly linked to two POGOs in her bailiwick: Hongsheng Gaming Technology Incorporated, which was raided in February 2023, and Zun Yuan Technology Incorporated, which was raided in March this year. The POGOs were accused of trafficking and scams.

She was questioned as to why she was supposedly unaware of such alleged illegal activities. In past Senate hearings, she was asked about her background to confirm her nationality, especially since she currently holds a high post in the local government.

Guo has since maintained that she’s Filipino and has denied having ties to POGOs in Bamban and being a Chinese spy. She also said that she was raised on the farm of her father, was homeschooled, and that her maid of a mother left her.

But as weeks passed, authorities discovered discrepancies in several documents involving Guo, as well as holes in her stories. These include documents alleging she’s a Chinese national whose real name is Guo Hua Ping.