NBI: Ex-mayor may be deported within the week
Dismissed Bamban mayor Alice Guo, allegedly a Chinese national known as Guo Hua Ping, was arrested by Indonesian authorities in Tangerang City, Jakarta late Tuesday evening.
Guo, who was accused of being a Chinese spy and having links to Chinese organized crime through POGOs, is expected to be deported to Manila within the week, the National Bureau of Investigation said.
“Maybe tomorrow (Thursday) or the day after tomorrow, we can bring Alice back here. She will first go straight to the Bureau of Immigration for immigration violations… then she will be turned over to the NBI to process her criminal charges and only then will we forward her to the Senate,” NBI Director Jaime Santiago said.
Justice Undersecretary Nicholas Ty said Guo’s brother, Wesley, is likely in Hong Kong.
“[Bureau of Immigration] Commissioner Tansingco said he is already coordinating with his counterparts in Hong Kong,” Ty said.
Guo was apprehended at 11:58 p.m. on Tuesday, according to Sr. Supt. Audie Latuheru of the Indonesian Police.
Guo has been on the run since being linked to an illegal POGO hub in Bamban, Tarlac where hundreds of people were forced to run scams or risk torture and being accused of being a Chinese national masquerading as a Filipino in order to run for office.
She is also wanted by the Senate for refusing to attend hearings on her alleged ties to the POGO scam farm operations in Bamban.
Guo, who insisted she is a natural-born Filipino, has denied accusations of being a Chinese spy and having links to illegal POGO operations, calling them “malicious.”
Jakarta’s law minister said Guo will be deported to Manila but the timing “depends on the police investigation results.”
“Indonesia tagged Guo as an illegal alien since they know that she is a fugitive here in the Philippines, then there was also a misrepresentation of her nationality in her passport,” Bureau of Immigration spokesperson Dana Sandoval said.
Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla added Guo’s return “it will depend on certain elements and situations emanating from Indonesia.”
“There are other issues between Indonesia and the Philippines that have to be resolved. We can have many incidents and Alice Guo might be placed in the middle of the pending incidents so that everyone can come to an agreement,” he said.
Interior Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. and Philippine National Police chief Gen. Rommel Marbil are studying the possibility of heading to Jakarta to personally escort Guo back to Manila, PNP spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo said.
“Looking at the possibilities, we have two options: whether the police attache will escort her back to the Philippines or it would be the Chief PNP or SILG that will be traveling to Indonesia to fetch Alice Guo,” Fajardo said.
Remulla hailed Guo’s arrest as “a testament to the tireless efforts of our law enforcement agencies and the strength of international cooperation in bringing fugitives to justice.”
“All legal processes are followed to hold her accountable for any crimes committed,” he added.
However, Remulla said some “Immigration people” must be held accountable for Guo’s escape.
“We need to establish an evidence trail against other people who were in cahoots in pulling off illegal acts,” he said.
Remulla criticized Immigration chief Norman Tansingco for allegedly not informing the Justice department about Guo’s escape.
“That is why we no longer talk. It was wrong of him not to inform the DOJ secretary of developments in his agency,” Remulla said.
During a recent Senate hearing, Tansingco admitted they were alerted by the PNP – Intel Group of Guo’s flight as early as August 15, but they only informed the DOJ and the Office of the Executive Secretary about the information five days later on August 20.
“We got the confirmations (only) on 19th in the morning up to the 20th when all the information we got (was) validated already,” Tansingco said.
“We endorsed it to the Office of Executive Secretary and DOJ in the morning of August 20,” he said, adding that the bureau already had by then “confirmation and validation of the information that (was) coming in, considering that there (was) conflicting information.”
Guo’s sister, Shiela, and business associate Cassandra Li Ong were also apprehended in Indonesia on August 21.
Ong, the authorized representative of Lucky South 99—the raided illegal POGO hub in Porac, Pampanga—said they left the Philippines on the evening of July 17 using three boats.
