Alice Guo seeks gov’t help against death threats

MANILA, Philippines — Dismissed Bamban Mayor Alice Guo, who was taken into custody by Philippine authorities in Indonesia where she fled in July to evade a Senate inquiry on her role in illegal online gaming, on Thursday expressed fears for her life and sought help from Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos.

“Sec, patulong. May death threats po kasi ako. (Secretary, please help me. I have death threats),” she said moments after she shook hands with Abalos when they met inside an Indonesian police office in Jakarta.

Her remarks were recorded during a livestreamed broadcast on the secretary’s Facebook page, but his response was not clearly recorded.

Abalos appeared to assure her and pointed out that the Philippine government even chartered a flight to take her back to Manila.

An agent from the Bureau of Immigration (BI) who was present but was not identified told ABS-CBN in an interview that the threats against Guo came from “the Chinese mafia.”

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It was not the first time that the dismissed mayor of Bamban, Tarlac, had disclosed the alleged death threats.

Skipped Senate probe

They were among the reasons she cited in a letter to the Senate seeking to be excused from a scheduled July 10 hearing on the Philippine offshore gaming operator (Pogo) complex in Bamban,

“I have been constantly receiving death threats that I cannot simply ignore as I am afraid that these threats may endanger my life. In this line, I humbly express my most sincere apologies for my absence and for any inconvenience this may have caused the Honorable Committee,” she said in a letter to Sen. Risa Hontiveros, who is leading the Senate inquiry into illegal activities linked to Pogos.

Guo, whose Chinese name is Guo Hua Ping, did not seek government protection at that time.

She later skipped other Senate hearings, prompting the senators to issue a warrant for her arrest.

In videos and pictures in Indonesia, Guo appeared relaxed and was often smiling.

Followed house to house

Abalos was accompanied to Indonesia by Philippine National Police chief Gen. Rommel Francisco Marbil on a private plane that left Manila around midnight on Wednesday to pick up Guo from Jakarta.

The two officials were joined by Brig. Gen. Romeo Macapaz, officer in charge of the PNP intelligence group and the Indonesian police attaché to the Philippines.

“I’ve seen how meticulous the operations were. For almost three weeks, you’ve followed Ms Guo. From house to house, imagine that, renting that, city to city. Every movement that she had you always followed her. … On behalf of our country we’d like to thank you for all the hard work that you’ve done,” Abalos told Indonesian officials.

PNP spokesperson Police Col. Jean Fajardo said Guo spoke with the PNP’s attaché to Indonesia after her arrest, telling him that she’s “fine.”

“According to our police attaché, she said she already wanted to surrender and face the charges against her. They only had a limited time to speak with each other. He just wanted to check how she was,” Fajardo said.

Shiela, Cassie, Wesley

Guo’s “sister,” Shiela—who later told the Senate that they were not siblings—and business associate Cassandra Li Ong, both linked to Pogos, were also arrested in Indonesia last month and were brought back to the country on the same day they were apprehended.

According to Hontiveros, who cited the National Bureau of Investigation, Guo left the Philippines secretly on July 18 along with her brother, Wesley, and Shiela, for Malaysia. They later moved to Singapore and took a ferry to Indonesia. Wesley is believed to have traveled to Hong Kong, according to the immigration bureau.

After Indonesian police arrested Guo early on Wednesday, local Indonesian media reported that Jakarta wanted to exchange her for an alleged Australian drug smuggler who was arrested in the Philippines in May based on an Interpol red notice.

An officer of the Indonesian Embassy in the Philippines told the Inquirer that informal talks between the sides on the possible swap were ongoing.

When Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla was asked about it, he said the swap was not a “simple matter” and there were “complications.”

‘Prisoner swap’

On Thursday, he clarified that the Department of Justice (DOJ) had not received any official word of a “prisoner swap” involving Guo and Australian national Gregor Johann Haas, a suspected member of the Sinaloa drug cartel who allegedly attempted to smuggle five kilos of methamphetamine into Indonesia. Drug trafficking is a capital offense in Indonesia.

Haas, 46, was in his rented apartment in Barangay Poblacion, San Remigio town, in Cebu with his Cebuana girlfriend when he was arrested by police and immigration officers on May 15. Earlier reports said he was arrested in Bogo City.

Remulla told the House of Representatives’ committee on appropriations during discussion on the DOJ’s proposed P40.585-billion budget for 2025, that what he shared with Philippine media the previous day was the supposed “prisoner swap” in Indonesian news reports.

“In truth, we have no contact with anybody about a prisoner swap,” he pointed out. “We heard about it through Indonesian media actually that’s why I gave a hint yesterday (Wednesday) to our local media that we would be studying the matter because it would be embarrassing on my part if I ignored it knowing that it already came out in the Indonesian media.”

He said that a “prisoner swap” was the responsibility of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) “unless I am given authorization to hold bilateral [talks] with my counterpart in Indonesia.”

Talks just starting

Indonesia’s Ambassador Agus Widjojo, in an interview with “Rise and Shine Pilipinas” of PTV, confirmed that talks on a possible swap have begun.

“The talks only started this morning, it’s only about to start. I don’t have any information to disclose,” Widjojo said.

Widjojo said several unspecified Philippine authorities have reached out and held a meeting with him on the matter as well.

The Australian Embassy in Manila told the Inquirer it could not comment on consular cases due to “privacy obligations.”

Both Australia and the Philippines do not have death penalties.

At the continuation of the Senate inquiry into Pogos, Hontiveros questioned the appointment of Vincent Bryan Allas as acting chief of the BI’s Border Control and Intelligence Unit (BCIU) despite his alleged role in the so-called “pastillas bribery scheme” several years ago.

“Isn’t this the root cause of all these problems we’re now investigating, and which you should be fixing?” Hontiveros asked BI Intelligence Division Chief Fortunato Manahan, who represented the bureau at the Thursday hearing on Guo’s escape.

“Of all people who can perform the duties of BI, particularly the sensitive unit like BCIU, the one you assigned in charge was one accused of corruption. Couldn’t BI have done better?” she added.

The “pastillas” scam, named after the popular Filipino milk candy because the bribe money was wrapped in white paper and rolled up to look like the delicacy, involved Chinese nationals who were allowed to enter the country without undergoing standard immigration procedures.

“This is very strange and unacceptable,” she added. —WITH A REPORT FROM NESTLE SEMILLA-DAKAY 

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