DOJ eyeing Shiela Guo as state witness

Shiela Guo, the purported sister of dismissed Bamban mayor Alice Guo, can become a state witness in the investigation into illegal activities of Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOS), an official of the Department of Justice said yesterday.

- DAPHNE GALVEZ

DOJ Undersecretary Nicholas Felix Ty said that while he does not want to preempt the proceedings, Shiela is qualified to be a state witness as she seems to be only implicated in illegal activities.

"When you come to think of it, she isn't the mastermind behind the illegal activities. If we will believe her in her testimony yesterday, it seems like she was just dragged into it or was harmed by her companions," Ty said in an ambush interview at the Senate.

Ty explained this is only a possibility as it is the DOJ and the courts that will determine who may be a state witness.

"A case should be filed against her and she would then be discharged on the ground that she will be a state witness," he said.

Shiela Guo was apprehended in Indonesia and was repatriated back to the Philippines. The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) earlier said she is a Chinese citizen named Zhang Mier who fraudulently acquired a Philippine passport.

At a Senate hearing, Guo admitted that she was not born in the Philippines but in China and was brought to the country in 2001 by her foster father to help in his business.

She revealed that she, Alice and their brother Wesley fled the country by boat in July, which allowed them to bypass immigration checks despite being on the immigration lookout bulletin.

Shiela admitted that Alice is not her biological sister and that she only met the dismissed mayor when she was 17 years old. It was Angelito Guo, who was also not her biological father, who introduced her to Alice.