Ben Madilynn
SAUL, Pangasinan Mayor Liseldo “Dong” Calugay denied on Tuesday, September 17, 2024, having a romantic relationship with embattled dismissed Bamban, Tarlac, Mayor Alice Guo.
During the resumption of the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations, and Gender Equality inquiry into the raided illegal Pogo hub in Bamban, Calugay repeatedly maintained that they were “just friends.”
This was despite being confronted by senators with several photos showing Calugay and Guo apparently wearing “couple shirts” and being present in each other’s campaign activities in 2022, as well as their similar campaign materials.
Calugay admitted, however, giving Guo a bouquet of flowers for Valentine’s Day but he insisted that it was only a friendly gesture.
He said he met Guo in her farm in Tarlac in 2016 when he was looking for a poultry supplier.
Calugay said he is annulled with his first wife and has now a live-in partner.
Calugay also denied having business partnership with Guo as Senate panel chairperson Senator Risa Hontiveros showed a document showing five companies allegedly linked to them.
These companies include the AC Aqua Farm, Dee Aqua Farm, Liscel Fish Farm, Donguo Fish Farm, and Guco Aqua Farm.
Calugay denied links to these firms.
Hontiveros said the “AC” possibly stands for “Alice and Calugay.”
“Yung Dee Aqua Farm (is) Dong. Licsel (is the combination of) Alice and Liseldo. DongGuo (for) Dong and Guo tinalo niyo pa si DongYan ha. Guco, siguro stands for Guo and Calugay. Made-deny mo pa ba ito?” she said.
DongYan is the combined names of real-life famous Filipino couple Dingdong Dantes and Marian Rivera.
Guo in the earlier hearings denied having a romantic relationship and business partnership with Calugay.
Guo is in hot water over her alleged involvement in the raided illegal Pogo hub in Bamban, which is among the reasons President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered the total ban of Pogo in the country. (TPM/SunStar Philippines)
