Guo: I am not a spy, I love the Philippines

MANILA, Philippines —  The usually calm and collected Alice Guo seemed to have lost her cool at a House of Representatives’ quad committee hearing on Friday as she was confronted with allegations raised in a documentary by a self-confessed Chinese spy that she had worked for Beijing’s intelligence and security services.

Shown a portion of a documentary by foreign news outlet Al Jazeera featuring Chinese spy She Zhijiang, the dismissed mayor became visibly agitated and vehemently denied knowing She.

Asked if she knew She Zhijiang, Guo started squirming in her seat and replied: “I don’t know him. And I hope, Your Honor, Mr. Chair, I can get the details. I want to file a case. I don’t know them.”

It was Davao Oriental Rep. Cheeno Almario who presented the video.

“Mr. Chair, I’d like to point out to this committee that even if we have been making our own research, pulling up our own inquiries, this is another source from a completely different party and is unrelated to what we do,” Almario told the quad committee, stressing the significance of the information obtained from the documentary.

When PBA party-list Rep. Margarita Nograles asked Guo what benefits she thought She would get by implicating her, the dismissed Bamban, Tarlac mayor retorted in English and Filipino: “I think it’s better for you to ask him. He was the one who released that video so he knows what benefits he would get. Definitely, I am not a spy.”

This prompted Nograles to comment: “OK. Relax ka lang. Why are you angry?”

“Sinasabi po nila, spy ako. Mahal ko pong Pilipinas, Filipino po ako, hindi po ako spy. (They are saying I am a spy. I love the Philippines. I am a Filipino, I am not a spy),” Guo insisted.

Guo went on explaining her citizenship but she was cut short by Nograles, who noted that Guo was very “defensive” and that her “actuations (were) showing something.”

Guo also denied She’s allegation that he was asked to fund the election campaign of a Guo Hua Ping, which – based on records obtained by lawmakers – is the Chinese name of the former mayor.

“This is unfair for me. I don’t know him and I never asked for campaign funds entirely. I never asked for campaign funds during my campaign