How did dismissed Bamban Mayor Alice Guo elude authorities and manage to flee the country amid the ongoing investigation against her?
Perhaps a lack of coordination or just plain negligence? One can wonder.
The Philippine National Police has been searching for her since July, after Guo and her family were ordered arrested for failing to cooperate in the Senate investigation on the raided illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (Pogo) in Bamban, Tarlac.
Government officials uncovered Guo’s nationality after her fingerprints matched those of a Chinese national named Guo Hua Ping.
It was Senator Risa Hontiveros who revealed on August 19 that Guo had, in fact, already left the country.
The senator said that Guo, using her Philippine passport, flew to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on July 17 and then to Singapore to reunite with her family—her father, Guo Jian Zhong, mother Lin Wen Yi, brother Wesley Ong, and Cassandra Ong, who was implicated in the raided Pogo hub in Porac, Pampanga.
“Who allowed this travesty to happen? Who is responsible for this? Alice Guo wouldn’t be able to leave if not for the help of government officials,” Hontiveros stressed.
She also called on the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to cancel her passport.
According to Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission spokesperson Winston John Casio, Guo used a backdoor channel to leave the country, either in Luzon or in Mindanao.
He said they are still investigating how Guo got out of the country, and he stressed that someone will be held accountable for this.
The Bureau of Immigration also said that their centralized database has no record of Guo’s departure, despite a lookout order issued against her last July.
Among the cases Guo is facing are human trafficking and tax evasion.
The poll body has also filed a complaint against her for misrepresentation when she filed her certificate of candidacy for the 2022 local elections.
She was also dismissed from public service by the Office of the Ombudsman.
Despite this and the pronouncements of the government leaders to hold her accountable for her “crimes,” she was able to elude the country’s laws and system with her Philippine passport.
As Hontiveros puts it, “Ang kapal din talaga ng mukha ng pekeng Pilipino na ito (The face of this fake Filipino is also really thick).”
So, where did she go?