DOJ to file qualified human trafficking case vs. ex-mayor
How can dismissed Bamban Mayor Alice Guo be in Bulacan to have a document notarized and in Singapore with her sister and business associate at the same time on August 14?
Through a body double, authorities suspected.
And at 2 p.m. yesterday, the alleged doppelganger, Cath Salazar, showed up at the National Bureau of Investigation, wearing a light green shirt, a face mask, and a pair of eyeglasses – a dead ringer of Guo, save for the ex-mayor’s now shorter black hair.
NBI Director Jaime Santiago earlier said Salazar was the one who did a drive-through at the office of lawyer Elmer Galicia to have her counter-affidavit notarized at around 7 p.m. of August 14.
Guo, also known as Guo Hua Ping, fled the country in early July, and was already in Singapore with her sister Shiela and business associate Cassandra Ong by the time her document was notarized in Bulacan.
After the dismissed mayor was arrested in Indonesia on Sept. 4, NBI assistant director Lito Magno flew to Jakarta as part of the contingent that brought her back to Manila.
It was there in Jakarta that Magno showed Guo a photo of a woman – later identified as Salazar – who looked very much like her.
“Is this you?” Magno asked, to which Guo shook her head and said: “She’s part of my staff.”
Guo is facing qualified trafficking in persons charges that state prosecutors are set to file next week.
“The preliminary investigation ruled that there’s prima facie evidence for qualified human trafficking in persons against Mayor Guo. The information was established and we will file this information before the court next week,” Justice Undersecretary Nicholas Felix Ty said in a press conference with Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) spokesperson Winston Casio and fiscal Benjamin Samson.
“We thank the prosecution panel who worked hard during the preliminary investigation. This case is very complicated. As you notice, the resolution is extremely thick and it has so many details,” the DOJ official added.
Ty explained that Guo’s culpability was determined based on a provision under the ‘Expanded Trafficking in Persons Act of 2012,’ which amended Republic Act 9208, stipulating that those who organized or directed persons to commit this criminal offense are just as liable.
“If it was established that you organized a business where acts of human trafficking were committed, you could be charged (of the crime), and that’s what happened to Mayor Alice Guo and her co-respondents,” he said.
Guo was linked to several businesses in Bamban, Tarlac that allegedly hosted illegal POGOs that reportedly recruited workers tasked to scam individuals, among other organized criminal activities.
Apart from Guo, the DOJ said it will file similar cases against former Technology Resource Center chief Dennis Cunanan and other Chinese incorporators, including Huang Zhiyang—the alleged “boss of all POGO bosses” in the Philippines.
The two graft charges filed against Guo, on the other hand, were transferred Friday from the Capas Regional Trial Court (RTC) to the Valenzuela RTC, Senate Majority Leader Francis Tolentino confirmed.
Valenzuela RTC clerk of court Gemma Perino said the cases will be raffled next Thursday to determine which RTC branch will handle the proceedings.
Until a court is assigned to hear the cases, the Senate panel led by Senator Risa Hontiveros plans to request Guo’s appearance in an ongoing investigation on illegal POGO activities.
Supreme Court spokesperson Camille Ting said the transfer of Guo’s case to Valenzuela was in accordance with a circular from the Office of the Court Administrator (OCA), which stipulates that cases involving local officials should be moved to the nearest RTC outside the official’s jurisdiction.
“In this case, the nearest RTC of the nearest judicial region from Capas is in Valenzuela,” Ting said.
Senator Joel Villanueva, for his part, said he believes a former Chinese policeman, Duanren Wu, is the boss of all POGOs and not Huang.
Wu, earlier identified as Ong’s godfather, was linked to Whirlwind Corp. which has been renting out the land where the raided POGO hub of Lucky South 99 was housed in Porac, Pampanga.
Villanueva said he also received information that Lucky South 99 president Zhang Jie was under Wu.
The senator said authorities should only focus their investigation on Huang but also on Wu.
“He’s the one running the show as far as the notorious groups here in the Philippines are concerned,” Villanueva said.
“These guys (Wu, Zhang and Huang) are connected to the Hong Kong Triad, to the Macau Triad,” he added.
PAOCC Executive Director Gilbert Cruz earlier said they are now tracking down Wu.
“That is who we are after now. We are not the only ones interested in him, even the international authorities are interested in him because of his significant participation and involvement in money laundering, not just in our country but worldwide,” Cruz said.
Editor’s Note: This is an updated article. Originally posted with the headline “Alice Guo ‘doppelganger’ surfaces at NBI.”
