MANILA, Philippines – Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian believes that Stephen David, lawyer of dismissed Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo, is not to be held liable for the escape of his client.
David has always said in his interviews that he has always been in regular communication with Guo virtually, usually via teleconferencing app, Zoom. He also insisted that Guo is still in the country because it was what he was told by the former mayor herself.
“From what I hear from Atty. David, he is communicating with Alice or Guo Hua Ping through the telephone and from what I gather from his interviews is he himself has not seen Alice Guo physically,” Gatchalian said in an interview on ANC’s “Headstart.”
“Everything is communicated through the telephone and through the cell phone. In that case he cannot be held liable because he himself does not know if Alice Guo is still here or she’s out of the country,” he said.
However if David would be proved to have dipped a hand into Guo’s exit, he too will be answerable to the law.
“Definitely, anyone for that matter [will be held liable]. If you are hiding a person from justice or aiding a person to evade justice then you are liable whether you’re a lawyer or an ordinary person because it is your job to also abide by the law and if anyone has information about Guo Hua Ping then that person give authorities the information of her whereabouts,” he said.
