Alice Guo escape prompts PH Coast Guard review of pre-departure rules

MANILA, Philippines —  Following  Alice Guo’s escape, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) is now looking at revising its rules to include non-common carriers  in its  pre-departure inspection (PDI).

Guo, the dismissed mayor  of Bamban town in Tarlac, confirmed  leaving for Malaysia via yatcht  in July.

Her case was brought up  by  Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III during  Tuesday’s hearing of the Senate subcommittee on finance on the proposed budget of the  Department of Transportation (DOTr) for 2025.

READ: Alice Guo reveals she fled Philippines aboard a yacht

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The PCG is an attached agency of the DOTr.

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“Let’s just assume na totoo, that they  left by yacht, small boat  to big boat…May role ba dapat  ang PCG dun? Na intercept nyo ba dapat yun?”  Pimentel asked.

(Let’s just assume it’s true, that they left by yacht, from a small boat to a big boat… Should the PCG have a role in that? Should you have intercepted it?)

In  response,  PCG Commandant Admiral Ronnie Gil Gavan pointed out that based on their existing memorandum circular on pre-departure inspection (PDI), “vessels which are non-common carriers are not included in the PDI.”

READ: Shiela Guo confirms escaping PH with siblings Alice, Wesley via boat

“And that’s the reason why we’re now revising the  circular, your honor, so the Coast Guard would have a role in the  enforcement in this kind of vessels,”  Gavan said.

According to the  PCG chief, non-common carriers  will now be covered in the implementation of the PDI.

The PCG is  eyeing  to have the revised  rules ready for  implementation  by  October, Gavan added.

“And you have a  legal  basis to do that?” Pimentel  asked, to which Gavan answered yes.

“So you don’t need a law?”  the senator asked again.

And when Gavan answered yes  again to his question, Pimentel remarked that the PCG could have made the revision  of its  circular even before the Guo  incident.

“Why do we need an Alice  Guo incident   before we can anticipate such a scenario and then covet it?”  the senator  said.

In the end,  Pimentel thanked Gavan  for  being honest.

“There’s no lack of legal basis  for the Philippine Coast Guard  to have acted. Its just that in their regulations siguro hindi nila antcipate so may nakakita nung butas and I’m sure hindi lang sila ang gumamit ng butas  na yan,” he said.

(There’s no lack of legal basis for the Philippine Coast Guard to have acted. It’s just that perhaps their regulations didn’t anticipate it, so someone saw the loophole, and I’m sure they’re not the only ones who took advantage of that loophole)

“So ganun pala ka porous ang ating boundaries, ang ating mga borders, ang ating coasts…I hope the Philippine Coast Guard would share your realization with the other agencies…” the senator  further said.

(So our boundaries, our borders, our coasts are that porous… I hope the Philippine Coast Guard will share this realization with the other agencies…)

Guo has been the subject of  the Senate committee on women’s investigation into over her alleged ties to a Philippine offshore gaming operator hub in her town  in Bamban.

The Senate ordered her arrest in July for her repeated failure to participate in the probe but she was only  caught in Indonesia on September  4.  She is currently detained at  the Philippine National Police’s custodial  center.

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