Guo siblings fled Philippine by ‘small white boat’

MANILA, Philippines — Dismissed Bamban mayor Alice Guo and her siblings left the country using boats bound for Sabah, Malaysia last July, her sister Shiela Guo told a joint Senate public hearing yesterday.

Guo recalled in the hearing led by Sen. Risa Hontiveros that she and her siblings Alice and Wesley were picked up by a white van from their house on their farm in Bamban, Tarlac around 7 p.m. and traveled about five hours, arriving at a place where they boarded a small white boat.

After several hours on the boat, Guo said they transferred to a bigger ship she described as a fishing vessel as she saw some fish and nets. The bigger ship sailed for about three to four days.

She said they then transferred to a smaller boat that brought them to Malaysia.

Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian pointed out some loopholes in Guo’s statement as he asked her where they were between the first weeks of July to July 18, when their passports were stamped passing Malaysia’s borders.

Hontiveros concurred with Gatchalian’s note, saying, “How can you be in two places at almost the same time?”

Guo claimed that they were already staying in Malaysia, specifically in Sabah, for four days but did not know where Sabah is.

She then claimed that a still unknown woman fetched them in Malaysia on July 21 heading for Singapore, where they were fetched by Cassandra Li Ong, who then accompanied them to Indonesia.

She noted that they arrived in Indonesia on Aug. 18 but Alice left them either Aug. 19 or 20 to attend to something.

Hontiveros cited Guo for contempt in the Senate committee on women hearing and she has to attend the committee hearing before her contempt is purged.

“We need to be sure that those who facilitated Alice Guo’s escape will be held liable,” Hontiveros noted.

During the questioning of senators, Guo claimed her father was Guo Jian Zhing and that Alice Guo was her sister, but she later admitted that the former was not her real father.

She said she arrived in 2004 and worked as an ordinary employee of an embroidery factory in Marilao, Bulacan.

However, Guo refused to give a categorical answer on who helped her and Alice get their Philippine identity.

Hontiveros pointed out that records