DOJ to go after Guo鈥檚 lawyers, too
Cath Salazar (left) and Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian —Senate PRIB
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Justice (DOJ) plans to file a disciplinary case with the Supreme Court against the lawyers of dismissed Bamban, Tarlac, Mayor Alice Guo for “misconduct” after they allegedly prepared fraudulent documents on her behalf.
“We will hold the lawyers on Alice Guo’s legal team accountable. It’s not just the notary; this includes the lawyers who appeared during the preliminary investigation and her spokesperson because this counteraffidavit is really different,” Justice Undersecretary Nicholas Ty told reporters on Tuesday.
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Ty was referring to Guo’s counteraffidavit that was attached to a motion asking the DOJ to reopen its preliminary investigation into the qualified human trafficking complaint filed against her by the Philippine National Police and the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission in June.
Guo snubbed all three preliminary investigations held on July 5, July 22, and Aug. 6. She was confirmed to have left the country on July 18 undetected by the immigration bureau, and was later arrested in Indonesia on Sept. 3.
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However, through her lawyers, she filed a motion to reopen the case with counteraffidavit notarized by lawyer Elmer Galicia on Aug. 14, or around the time Guo was still overseas.
Article continues after this advertisementThe motion was dismissed. But according to Ty, “because of this counteraffidavit, the case was delayed.”
“For us, there’s no doubt that the counteraffidavit is fake. Lawyers shouldn’t engage in such practices because it might set a precedent for other lawyers to disregard legal proceedings here,” Ty added.
The DOJ official also announced on Tuesday that the current and any future cases faced by Guo for human trafficking would be tried at the Pasig Regional Trial Court.
“Based on the Supreme Court’s resolution, all cases related to the Bamban Pogo, including our money laundering case and future charges aside from human trafficking, will likely be filed in Pasig,” he said.
Different cases
Over the weekend, the DOJ said the high court approved its request to transfer human trafficking cases involving Pogo (Philippine offshore gaming operators) activities in Bamban, Tarlac, to courts in Metro Manila.
Aside from Guo, the other accused in the trafficking case include Ma The Pong, Wang Weili, Lang Xu and several other Chinese Pogo workers. It was originally filed before the Capas Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Tarlac province.
Guo also faced a graft complaint initially lodged at the Capas RTC before it was transferred to the Valenzuela RTC.
She also has a quo warranto case before the Manila RTC and a birth certificate cancellation petition before the Tarlac RTC, both filed by the Office of the Solicitor General.
She also has a misrepresentation case before the Commission on Elections, a tax evasion complaint still pending resolution before the DOJ, and a deportation case at the Bureau of Immigration.
Signed before she fled
At the Senate, Guo on Tuesday said she signed the last page of her counter-affidavit in the human trafficking case before her before she left the country in July.“I signed the last page of the document before I left, first week of July,” Guo told the senators at the resumption of the Senate hearing on her alleged ties to a raided Pogo hub in her town.
“Yes, it was partially completed,” she replied when asked by Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian if the document was already completed when she signed it.
Guo invoked her right against self-incrimination when asked if she knew the contents of her counter-affidavit.
Body double?
“This means that before you left in July, you already prepared the last page and signed it so that Cath (Salazar) would only attach it to the counter-affidavit which was only composed later on. Is that right?” asked Sen. Risa Hontiveros, referring to one of Guo’s secretaries.
Salazar earlier claimed that the ex-mayor instructed her to get a document contained in a brown envelope from her house in Bamban. The secretary’s role earlier roused suspicions that she was used as a body double for Guo after the latter left the country.
Guo’s admission led senators to conclude that her lawyers knew she was leaving the country as the document was prepared beforehand, and that the notary public lawyer lied when he said that Guo signed her counter-affidavit in front of him.
“My personal conclusion is that Attorney (Elmer) Galicia lied because she did not sign this in front of him. He definitely lied and the Department of Justice should file a case against him,” said Gatchalian, recalling the lawyer’s earlier statement that Guo was present when he notarized the counter-affidavit.
Obvious ‘defects’
“It means her lawyers knew that she would leave because she signed it in advance. The counter-affidavit was filed on Aug. 14 but the last page was signed in the first week of July,” he added.
“Actually we don’t have to belabor the defects of the notary, we already know it’s fatally flawed,” Hontiveros said.
Galicia, who was also present at the hearing, said he was “a victim” of the circumstances but declined to answer questions, invoking his right against self-incrimination.
The lawyer earlier claimed in media reports that, on the night of Aug. 14, he notarized Guo’s counter-affidavit upon her request but that their encounter took place outside outdoors and he only saw her peering through the window of her vehicle.