August 21, 2024
MANILA – Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said the government will go after the “culprits” responsible for the sneaky escape of a former town mayor who is being investigated for her alleged ties to Chinese criminal syndicates.
“Let me be clear: Heads will roll,” Mr Marcos said on social media platform X on Aug 21.
The President’s stern statement came two days after a Philippine Senate investigation revealed that dismissed Bamban mayor Alice Guo, also identified as Chinese national Guo Hua Ping, had somehow managed to leave the country.
This is despite an immigration lookout bulletin order issued by the Department of Justice (DOJ) that requires the authorities to closely monitor her movements.
Guo is facing a Senate arrest warrant for snubbing the hearings probing her alleged ties to a now-shutdown online casino that was allegedly being used as a front for scamming operations and other criminal activities. The hub, closed by the government in March, was built on land partially owned by the disgraced politician in the sleepy farming town of Bamban, some 99km north of the capital Manila, in Tarlac province.
During a hearing on Aug 19, Senator Risa Hontiveros, who has been leading the investigation into Guo, first publicised immigration documents showing that the embattled politician arrived in Malaysia on July 18, then travelled to Singapore on July 21.
Hours later, a spokesman for the Presidential Anti-Organised Crime Commission (PAOCC) corroborated Ms Hontiveros’ findings, saying that Guo later took a ferry from Singapore to travel to Indonesia on Aug 18.
PAOCC spokesman Winston Casio told local radio station TeleRadyo Serbisyo that the authorities can pursue Guo either through extradition or a red notice from Interpol.
The Philippines has an extradition treaty with Indonesia. The two countries, along with Singapore and Malaysia, are also member states of Interpol, and a red notice from the body requires members to work together to deal with its process involving transnational crimes.
But an Interpol red notice can be triggered only when a local court issues an arrest warrant against Guo. For now, investigations against her in the Philippines may continue while the authorities hunt her down.
It remains unclear for now how Guo travelled out of the Philippines, though her lawyer insisted she has not left the country. President Marcos’ office has already ordered the Department of Foreign Affairs to cancel Guo’s passport.
Guo supposedly appeared before a lawyer based in Bulacan province, just outside Manila, on Aug 14 to have her counter-affidavit notarised for a qualified trafficking case filed earlier against her by the DOJ. Preliminary hearings are ongoing, so Guo is not facing any court-issued arrest warrants yet.
Mr Marcos said her sneaky departure has “laid bare the corruption” hounding the Philippine justice system, adding that a full-scale investigation is already under way.
“We will expose the culprits who have betrayed the people’s trust and aided in her flight,” said the President.
The Philippines’ Bureau of Immigration (BI) has long gained notoriety due to corruption, with officials and staff getting charged over the years with accepting bribes and being embroiled in human trafficking schemes and other crimes in the country.
Senator Win Gatchalian said it should have been impossible for Guo to leave the Philippines undetected – unless Filipino immigration officials aided her escape.
“You have to pass through immigration. You have to pass through countless number of CCTVs. We must have some traces of that movement. She cannot just have walked in there (at the airport) and leave without being aided by our own government officials,” Mr Gatchalian said in an interview with local broadcaster ANC.
BI spokeswoman Dana Sandoval told Rappler it was possible that Guo fled the country illegally via sea or private plane, thus dodging immigration inspection.
The former mayor’s escape has outraged Filipinos, many of whom turned to social media to criticise immigration officials for letting Guo slip by when they are known to be strict with regular passengers’ travel documents.
User @mgldlz said on X: “An ordinary Filipino, who has the constitutional right to travel, would stand shivering in the airport immigration line with the fear of being denied boarding for discriminatory reasons. Meanwhile, Alice Guo, who has an arrest warrant, was able to fly out of the country unnoticed.”
Guo’s case highlighted the extent of alleged criminal activities involving the mostly Chinese-backed online casino industry in the country, also called Philippine offshore gaming operators (Pogos).
The authorities also say some Pogos have lured foreign workers, including Chinese nationals, with promises of legal jobs in the Philippines, only to trick them into working for the scam hubs later on.
Guo was also suspected of being a Chinese “asset”, after Ms Hontiveros questioned in May whether she was truly born and raised in the Philippines.
Guo’s case has captivated the nation’s attention at a time when tensions between Manila and Beijing are soaring over the disputed South China Sea.
Public uproar over her alleged criminal ties prompted Mr Marcos on July 22 to ban Pogos in the country. The government has stripped Guo of her mayorship and frozen her accounts over suspected money laundering, human trafficking and tax fraud.
The court’s freeze order on Guo’s assets included 90 bank accounts amounting to billions of pesos, which were under her name and that of her business partners, 12 real estate properties, 12 vehicles and one helicopter.
Guo, however, maintains she is a natural-born Philippine citizen and has denied all allegations against her.
In a letter sent to lawmakers through her lawyers, she said she has been the subject of “malicious accusations” during the Senate hearings. She has turned to the Philippine Supreme Court to nullify the subpoena requiring her to show up for the Senate investigation, but the magistrates have yet to decide on the matter.