Bamban City Mayor Alice Guo, who was suspended from office after being arrested by the Philippine Senate, once again failed to appear in person at a scheduled meeting with the Department of Justice (DOJ) regarding the human trafficking case against her.
The embattled mayor was accompanied by her lawyers.
Guo and her 13 joint contacts are expected to file counter-affidavits soon in response to their complaints about a raid on a Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) center in Guo's community. More than 800 Filipinos and foreigners were rescued from the above-mentioned centers.
The complainant, the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and the Presidential Commission Against Organized Crime (PAOCC) filed a supplementary complaint affidavit, resulting in a delay in filing the counter-affidavit.
According to PAOCC spokesman Dr. Winston Casio, they have added a Filipino defendant to the complaint.
Casio said: The defendants were involved in the management of Zunyuan Technology, Hongsheng and Baofu Land Development, and they also included four new witnesses.
He said the Filipinos would prove that the raided POGO centers were involved in scams.
Not only that, they will also prove that they have no freedom of movement at that location. They are effectively imprisoned there. They are only allowed to go out one day a month, and their salaries are deducted for doing so.”
Nicky Ty, deputy attorney general and chair of the Inter-Agency Committee to Combat Trafficking, announced that the filing date for the defendants’ counter-affidavits has been postponed to August 6.
"Not extendable. Next, the enforcement team cannot obtain additional affidavits from the complainants," he added.
Gou insisted that he was a Filipino citizen and denied participating in any illegal POGO activities.
Senator Sherwin Gatchalian claimed last week that he had asked the Immigration Service to determine whether Guo or Guo Huaping left the country at an official exit point because he was concerned that Guo might have used her Chinese passport to leave the country.
Last week, the suspended mayor of Bam Bam said in a Facebook post that she was "ready to face the charges" against her in a fair trial and reasonable debate.
