The intelligence community may need to take a deeper look not only into the background but also the connections of Guo Hua’ping (a.k.a. Alice Guo) due to the potential risk to national security, former Sen. Panfilo “Ping” M. Lacson said Wednesday.
Lacson voiced concerns that Guo, if not exposed by the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) operations against her illegal activities and if she were really a spy, could have the resources to run for congresswoman or even higher office – and have access to sensitive documents in the Philippine government.
“Testimonials coming from her former constituents were one in saying that Guo had been governing well sa Tarlac kumpara sa mga mayors doon, medyo maganda at wala silang nakitang anomalya. Ang municipal coffers tuloy-tuloy napupunta sa kanyang mga “kababayan”. So di malayo kung napeke niya ang kanyang pagiging mayor, hindi malayong umakyat siya bilang isang congresswoman. At kung siya ay isang foreign spy, medyo delikado ang ating national security. Kasi alam mo kung nasa Kongreso ka na, Senate or House of Representatives, may access ka na sa mga highly classified documents kasi ang security clearance medyo mataas na. So yan ang delikado (Testimonials coming from her former constituents were one in saying that she’s governing well in Bamban, Tarlac. It cannot be ruled out that if she gets out of her issues now, she might run for congresswoman. And if she were a foreign spy, that is bad for us because as a member of Congress, she would have access to highly classified documents due to her high security clearance),” he said in an interview on Teleradyo Serbisyo.
He said this is why he urged the intelligence community to include Guo in their EEI (essential elements of information) and do a deeper record check and background investigation.
Lacson said there had been true-to-life spy stories including that of Eli Cohen, an Israeli spy who was projected by Israel’s Mossad to infiltrate Syria in the 1960s. Before he was executed, he managed to rub elbows with Syrian ministers and traders and gather useful information for Israel.
“I am not forcing anyone to take my opinion as gospel truth. Maybe I was subliminally positing that our intelligence agencies include Guo in their essential elements of information (EEI’s). It is worth the effort, considering the potential risk to our national security,” he said in an earlier post on X.
Lacson also cited information from a Filipino-Chinese friend who claims to have connections to some personalities within the circle of the First Family, and who was supposedly approached by Guo to help her before she fled the Philippines. Guo supposedly offered through the trader P1 billion in exchange for the “help.”
“Ang pinaka-worry ko talaga kung na-elect siyang mayor at maganda ang pamamalakad sa Bamban di malayong tumakbo siyang district representative or congresswoman at manalo, di malayo yan, may panggastos siya eh (My worry now is that if she got herself elected as mayor, we cannot discount the possibility of her running for congresswoman and winning. She has the capability and resources to do it),” he said.
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