MANILA, Philippines – While she was a sitting mayor of Bamban, Tarlac, Alice Guo made sure that the request of the Zun Yuan POGO to secure a local government permit made it to the agenda of the municipal council, her own running mate and vice mayor said on Thursday, September 19.
“Kinausap po daw ni Mayor Alice Guo si Honorable Councilor Rainier Rivera para po ma-agenda ang Zun Yuan Technology (Mayor Alice Guo talked to Honorable Councilor Rainier Rivera to put Zun Yuan on the agenda),” Vice Mayor Leonardo “Ding” Anunciacion, Guo’s running mate in 2022 and also a former mayor of Bamban, told the House quad committee on Thursday.
Anunciacion was referring to Zun Yuan’s request to secure a Letter of No Objection (LONO) from the municipality of Bamban. This is a requirement by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) for its POGO licensees.
Zun Yuan is the new name of the POGO, which filed fresh incorporation papers with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in June 2023, but stayed in the same compound of Baofu, the real estate firm incorporated by Guo. Investigators believe that Zun Yuan was just a reinvention of Hongsheng Gaming Corporation after it was raided in February 2023.
This further implicates Guo in the POGO mess as Hongsheng, later renamed Zun Yuan, was found with evidence of trafficking and torture. Guo has always insisted that her business dealings had always just been with the leasing real estate firm Baofu. But Guo’s name previously appeared in Hongsheng’s LONO, given by the municipality in September 2020. Hongsheng’s LONO identified Guo as a representative of the POGO.
Guo denied Anunciacion’s testimony, which agitated the interpellator, Manila 6th Distict Representative Benny Abante. It was Guo’s first appearance before the House quad committee.
“Nagsisinungaling ba siya o hindi? (Is he lying or not?) Answer me, you’re under oath,” said Abante.
“Hindi po ako ang nag-endorse (It wasn’t me who endorsed),” said Guo.
It was also revealed during Thursday’s hearing that Duanren Wu, the incorporator of the Whirlwind real estate firm that leased property to the POGO in Porac, Pampanga, was in Indonesia and joined Guo when she and her siblings fled the country to evade Senate warrants. Wu is the godfather of Cassandra Ong, and seems to be the big boss of the Porac operations. Ong said Wu was a former cop in China, but according to Senator Risa Hontiveros, Wu is also supposedly a fugitive in China.
“Opo nakasama po namin siya sa Indonesia (Yes he was with us in Indonesia),” said Guo.
Although authorities still doubt Guo’s narration of how they fled the country, it was established that she was in Indonesia starting August 18 after getting on a ferry boat from Singapore. It was in Indonesia where Guo, Ong and Guo’s sister Shiela were arrested weeks apart.Guo said that in the times she met Wu in Bamban whenever Ong brought her godfather along, Wu had pitched to venture into a solar energy business. Ong is the girlfriend of Guo’s brother Wesley.
Wu, Ong, and another Singaporean had also met about venturing into the solar energy business with former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque, said Ong.
Roque is still evading a House arrest warrant for contempt. He has been ordered arrested by the House quad committee for not complying with the subpoena of his company records. Lawmakers had questioned an increase in Roque’s company assets from 2017 to 2018.
