Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada was in disbelief that someone who supposedly faked her own death was now scared for her life.
Mary Ann Maslog, who introduced herself as Jessica Francisco during the Senate committee on women’s hearing on Tuesday, claimed that the Philippine National Police’s Intelligence Group asked her to help facilitate the surrender of dismissed Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo.
Guo was held in contempt and ordered arrested by the Senate after she repeatedly failed to attend the women panel’s probe into her alleged ties to POGOs. She was arrested in Indonesia on Septembet 4 and later detained at the PNP’s custodial center in Quezon City before being transferred to Pasig City jail.
Maslog said that she received a “communication” from an ALG regarding personalities allegedly involved in illegal POGOs.
But she only identified a certain “Faeldon” when the committee ordered her to write down the names mentioned in the communication.
“I think po isa lang po yan sa mga names po and your honor, I’m sorry I don’t think I have the right po kasi hindi po ako sure,” Maslog explained.
She became emotional when Senator Risa Hontiveros, the panel head, pressed her to reveal other names mentioned in the communication.
“Your honor, I can’t. I’m sorry your honor,” Maslog said, explaining that the names are not yet validated.
When Hontiveros told her it was not her job to validate it, Maslog respondeed: “But these people, your honor, are in position.”
Estrada later asked if Maslog still feared for her life despite supposedly being dead.
“Mary Ann, natatakot ka ba sa buhay mo pagka dinivulge mo yung mga palangalan? E namatay ka na dati e di ba…? Come on, please divulge all the names that you know,” he said.
Maslog, an agent of a publishing company, was implicated in a P24-million graft case in 1998 involving officials of the education department.
In 2020, the Sandiganbayan sentenced two former education officials to a maximum of 10 years of imprisonment, but Maslog was excluded from the ruling because her lawyer informed the court that she had died on November 18, 2019.
She was arrested in Quezon City on September 25 for other complaints against her. (Photo courtesy of Senate of the Philippines PRIB)
