Today, Monday, Sept. 9, Bamban Mayor Alice Guo will again face the Senate committees headed by Sen. Risa Hontiveros and Sen. Win Gatchalian on the various charges that she is facing, in the Senate and in the courts, all in connection with her alleged participation in the operation of illegal POGOs in Bamban, Tarlac and Porac, Pampanga. Alice should tell all.
It took the Indonesian police to arrest Alice in Tangerang City, Jakarta last Sept. 3. The Philippine law enforcement and security personnel such as the Philippine National Police and the National Bureau of Investigation, along with the Bureau of Immigration, and even the much-vaunted whole-of-government approach of President Bongbong Marcos are no match against the Indonesia security forces.
They are best, however, in celebrating the capture of the dismissed mayor, thru selfies and other photo opportunities for posterity—to remember how they dropped the ball once again on this one.
Netizens who were the first to comment on the news have surmised that if President Bongbong Marcos’ target on whose heads will roll on the escape of Guo—top immigration officials—then Alice’s life would be in danger as soon as she lands on Philippine soil and met by BI personnel.
Alice’s arrest and forthcoming prosecution in connection with whatever cases the government has filed and will soon file against her will have many implications in several agencies of the government, among them the Philippine National Police, the Department of Justice and its Prosecution Service, the Commission on Elections, the Department of Interior and Local Government, the Philippine Statistics Authority, the BI, the Department of Foreign Affairs, the local governments of Bamban and Tarlac, the local governments of Porac and Pampanga, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., the Land Transportation Office, the Philippine Coast Guard, the Maritime Industry Authority, the PAOCC, the Regional trial courts, etc., etc. The officials running these agencies all showed some shades of malfeasance and misfeasance in this long-running telenovela in real life.
It is another stroke of luck that the Indonesian police got hold of Alice Guo, even before President Bongbong was able to use the guillotine on Alice’s supposed cohorts who helped her escape, the missing mayor was arrested in Jakarta. Now, Marcos will not have a hard time on who to punish. Alice can just divulge the names of her benefactors, better in another Senate hearing.
The Senate and the House of Representatives will have the genuine opportunity to introduce new legislation to strengthen the operational systems in the various agencies we enumerated above, so that future Alice Guo episodes like this one won’t be repeated. For instance, how should the Office of Civil Registrar in towns and cities and the PSA work hand-in-hand to clear-up the mess in fake birth certificates.
Also, the whole nation will definitely monitor and follow up how Alice Guo’s cases will be dispensed with by the prosecution service and the courts. Money, with its ability to move things and push people, always plays a role in the scheme of things in the government. And don’t forget that Alice and her group have plenty of this.
We thank Indonesia and its police force for the arrest of Alice Guo, giving the government the opportunity to prosecute her for whatever crimes she has committed, and for Alice, the chance to clear her name.
Lastly, it is interesting to see how Risa Hontiveros will salivate on the chance to again make a try on one of the greatest opportunities for grandstanding now in her hands.
#WeTakeAStand #OpinYon #OpinYonColumn #ColumnbyDiegoCagahastian #ViewfromCalumpang