Bureau of Immigration. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/ ALEXIS CORPUZ
MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Immigration (BI) has received information suggesting that Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo “left the country illegally,” and not passing through the Philippine immigration authorities.
Citing the intelligence information, BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco said Guo, whose real name is said to be Guo Huaping, “illegally traveled to Malaysia as early as July.”
“We received intelligence information from our counterparts abroad that Guo illegally left for Malaysia then flew to Singapore,” Tansingco revealed in a statement Monday evening.
READ: INQToday: Alice Guo has left the Philippines – Hontiveros
The official said the intelligence information that Guo left for Malaysia and Singapore “came from very reliable sources.”
He added that the former mayor purportedly flew to Singapore with Shiela Leal Guo and Wesley Leal Guo last July 21.
The BI official’s statement follows his arrival in the country from an Asean meeting of immigration heads in Vietnam.
Although Guo’s name is under the Department of Justice-issued immigration lookout bulletin (ILBO), her supposed departure is not recorded in the BI’s system and centralized database.
“The BI has presence at all regular international ports of entry and exit like international airports and seaports, whereas informal exit points are managed and monitored by other aviation or maritime agencies,” the agency said.
Tansingco also disclosed that BI has so far “not received any turnover or reports related to Guo from other agencies, including those manning the country’s maritime borders.”
Moreover, Katherine Cassandra Li Ong departed the Philippines as early as June 11 prior to the issuance of the ILBO against them on August 6.
The group were monitored to have reportedly traveled to Indonesia, Tansingco further said.
Additionally, he disclosed that the cancellation of Guo’s Philippine travel documents “could fast-track her extradition to the Philippines.”
In a manifestation delivered during the Senate plenary session on Monday, Senator Risa Hontiveros revealed that was already in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on July 18.
She added that Guo used her Philippine passport to exit the country.
Puzzled as to how this happened, Hontiveros questioned the Bureau of Immigration, since the agency earlier promised her and Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada that it would not allow Guo to leave the country.
If not addressed, Hontiveros said the issue would be a big slap to the country’s laws, procedures, and policies.