In an interview conducted by broadcaster Noli de Castro former senator Panfilo Lacson disclosed his suspicion that ousted Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Leal Guo is a well-trained spy from a foreign country that is out to gain foothold of the Philippines. The former lawmaker based his suspicion on the way Guo managed to make a “run around” of the senators now conducting their investigation on Guo on various violations of Philippine laws, more blatantly the illegal existence of a huge on-line gaming notoriously called POGO or Philippine Off-shore Gaming Operations.
Prior to Lacson’s sharing of his take on the former lady mayor we already had our own assessment of the way Guo comported herself during the first time she appeared in the Senate Committee probe and later when she again was brought to the Senate body hearing after her arrest in Indonesia almost a month after her flight from the Philippines.
The former Senator who was National Police director before he was elected to the Senate further told the veteran broadcaster that Guo showed exceptional skill in creating certain scenes that literally put the lawmakers from the Upper Chamber and even the Police and National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) officials who fetched her in Indonesia in a “disadvantageous” situation.
In fact during the latest Senate Committee hearing that Guo attended her appearance was that of one who is not in any manner affected by possible scathing questioning by the senators. She exuded a calm that only a mentally and emotionally well-conditioned person is capable of doing.
In the case of her dealing with Philippine and Indonesian authorities when Guo was waiting for the plane that transported her back to the country, it was clear that she was acting like she was not an arrested fugitive. Rather, she made herself some kind of a showbiz personality that some law enforcers including Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Benhur Abalos and PNP Chief Gen. Rommel Francisco Marbil were unable to resist the temptation to have their photos taken with Guo posing with a “V” sign that could be interpreted in Guo’s favor.
And imagine a fugitive who is an ousted municipal mayor being treated like a royalty with a private jet used to ferry her back to the Philippines!
And back to her attendance in the Senate hearing. She answered either in, “Hindi po’” “wala akong alam.,” “pwede isulat ko na lang sa papel,” etc, etc, etc. At one time when asked whether she is Ms. Alice Leal Guo and Guo Hua Ping whose pictures in their passports appear identical, her answer was “My name is Alice Guo po.”
She also consistently denied knowledge of any Philippine official who facilitated her escape using a small boat, then a yacht, to a big boat and back to another small boat. Meaning, her movement was under the baton of someone she did not know but she was obliged to act accordingly.
Guo even denied owning a farm in Sual, Pangasinan with the town mayor as her co-owner despite the fact that the property’s registration papers at the Department of Trade and Industry carries her name and signature.
Ms. Guo’s line of answering the senators’ questions were exactly similar to the ones used by her cohorts.
As we recalled our readings of some true-to-life , as well as fictional espionage stories the schemes adopted by the ousted Bamban, Tarlac Mayor fit to a “T” all the trimmings of how spies are molded, honed up for their jobs, and how to get out of any situation that could possibly expose their true identity.
So Alice Leal Guo is likely what she is, according to former Senator Lacson’s probing eyes. And he could not be wrong because in the espionage narratives we had read, the “sponsoring” government or organization normally invests huge resources if only to ensure the attainment of the espionage’s objective.
Other than that the making of a spy can start on the “appointed” one as early as her or his young age. The honing up of the spy’s skills comes simultaneously but gradually in terms of level.
With this Lacson suspicion perhaps it is about time for the Congressional probers to utilize to the maximum the use of the investigative skills of our law enforcement agencies. And if allowed by law, the Congress should authorize the government to enter into collaborative agreements with other countries to ensure that Guo’s “spy” tag could be unearthed down to its deepest roots.
