Escudero orders 3 Senate committees to probe Guo escape

MANILA, Philippines — Senate President Francis Escudero ordered three committees to investigate the escape of dismissed Bamban, Tarlac mayor Alice Guo and three of her alleged accomplices after she was arrested in Indonesia late Tuesday night.

Escudero tasked the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights, headed by Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel 3rd, to lead the investigation. The secondary and tertiary committees will be the Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality, led by Senate Deputy Minority Leader Risa Hontiveros and Public Services, by Sen. Raffy Tulfo.

Escudero said the Senate would pursue Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian's proposal to file perjury and disobedience complaints against Guo, who skipped previous Senate hearings into Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs).

«We have talked; we have referred to Senate Legal; they are studying who will make the affidavit,» Escudero said in a mix of Filipino and English.

While Gatchalian and Hontiveros have been pursuing the inquiry into POGO operations, they will not be the complainants in the raps to be filed.

«Those who have personal knowledge [must] be related to lying or disobeying the subpoena… Those who would know then are probably members of the OSAA (Office of the Sergeant-at-Arms) or other employees of the Senate. According to the law, they are the ones who must -execute a complaint affidavit,» Escudero said.

The Senate ordered Guo and several others arrested for refusing to attend two consecutive hearings conducted by the Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations, and Gender Equality.

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Guo's refusal to attend the Senate hearings is a violation of Article 150 of the Revised Penal Code, which penalizes disobedience to summons issued by Congress.

Meanwhile, Hontiveros said the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) assured her that it would immediately turn over Guo to the Senate as soon as she was brought back to the country and processed.

«And we will run after those who helped her escape,» Hontiveros said in a statement in Filipino.

Escudero and Hontiveros lauded Guo's arrest by Indonesian authorities.

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«I hail the arrest of Alice Guo in Indonesia. She