Senator Sherwin Gatchalian revealed on Friday that billions of pesos in “unjustified” funds were deposited into the bank accounts of suspended Bamban Mayor Alice Guo between 2019 and 2022. According to a GMA Integrated News report, this disclosure came just a day after the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) announced that the Court of Appeals (CA) had ordered the freezing of Guo’s bank accounts and personal assets, along with those of two other individuals allegedly involved in illegal activities linked to Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations (POGO).
Among the assets frozen by the CA were Guo’s 36 bank accounts, 12 land holdings, 12 motor vehicles, and a helicopter. “The AMLC provided us with the amounts, and they are substantial. We’re talking about billions entering Guo’s accounts over three years, yet her corporations’ financial statements only show hundreds of thousands,” Gatchalian stated during a virtual interview on Friday.
Gatchalian emphasized the importance of the AMLC report, which details the origins and destinations of the funds. However, he refrained from disclosing further specifics, stating that these would be revealed in upcoming AMLC hearings. He did mention that a significant portion of the funds transferred to Guo’s account originated from China.
“Money from various sources entered Guo’s accounts in billions, then was disbursed to various individuals and corporations, particularly for establishing the POGO hub in Bamban,” he added.
The senator underscored that the freezing of Guo’s assets indicates her inability to justify the sources of her wealth. “The transactions were found to be suspicious, with a high probability of money laundering, which led to the immediate freezing of assets,” he explained.
Gatchalian also questioned why local banks did not report these transactions to the AMLC earlier, suspecting possible collusion. “Why is this only coming out now? There were significant transactions as early as 2019. In three years, billions entered her account, so why didn’t the banks report it?” he queried. “There might have been negligence or even conspiracy within the banks, particularly at the branch level, that led to the delay in reporting these transactions to AMLC.”
Mayor Guo, currently under suspension, is also facing a Senate probe regarding her alleged connections to POGO activities in Bamban. Senators have raised questions about her identity due to inconsistencies in her statements about her nationality and personal life. On Wednesday, a Senate panel issued an arrest order against Guo for failing to appear at a hearing about the raided POGO hub in Bamban.
In response, Guo’s camp has petitioned the Supreme Court to annul the subpoena issued against her, claiming that the Senate panel has violated her constitutional rights and due process. “The committee is convinced of their preconceived notion that Petitioner is a spy and a criminal, and anything she says is considered part of a grand scheme to conceal her true identity,” the petition stated.