Shiela Guo appears before the Senate to face queries about her sister Alice Guo’s escape from Philippine jurisdiction. - Screengrab/Senate YouTube
MANILA: Shiela Guo confirmed before the Senate on Tuesday (Aug 27) that she “escaped” Philippine jurisdiction with her siblings, dismissed Bamban mayor Alice Guo and Wesley Guo, via a small white boat.
During the subcommittee on justice and human rights hearing, Shiela admitted to senators how they managed to leave the country after being pressed for details.
“We rode a boat in the sea,” Shiela said in Filipino.
“I don’t know the place,” she added.
Sen Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa said it had been established that the Guos did not leave the country via immigration.
“We just came from home, and somebody with a vehicle fetched us,” Shiela said. She was pertaining to a certain farm as her residence. Earlier, Alice confessed that she grew up on a farm in Tarlac.
Sen Risa Hontiveros, who was presiding over the hearing, asked what type of vehicle they used, to which Shiela answered: a van.
Shiela added that she was unaware of where the vehicle took them, but they travelled for five hours, arriving at a port around midnight.
Senate President Pro Tempore, who was also present during the hearing, asked Shiela how many were in the van.
“There’s three of us — Alice and Wesley,” she confessed.
At this point, Hontiveros raised the possibility that the three were brought by the van to Pangasinan, but Shiela denied this.
“No, it’s not Pangasinan because I know Pangasinan. It was farther than Manila, but I don’t know the place,” she added.
Dela Rosa then asked if this “small white boat” directly brought them to Malaysia, but Shiela said no.
“We transferred to a bigger boat,” she said.
After the small white boat, Shiela said they transferred to a “fishing ship” and later transferred to a small “blue or green” boat direct to Malaysia.
Shiela claimed that from Malaysia, they boarded a plane to Singapore. She said she and Alice along with the dismissed Bamban mayor’s business associate Cassandra Ong later on travelled via ferry to Indonesia.
Shiela and Ong were apprehended by authorities at a mall in Indonesia, but Alice was not with them at the time of apprehension.
According to the Bureau of Immigration, Alice has yet to attempt to cross the Indonesian borders. - Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN
