President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. —Photo by Yummie Dingding/PPA pool
MANILA, Philippines — Those who helped Alice Guo flee the country in July will “certainly pay the price,” President Marcos reiterated following confirmation that the dismissed municipal mayor was arrested in Jakarta on Wednesday.
“Not only will they be sacked. We will also file charges for them for breaking the law and for acting against all of the interests of the Philippine judicial system,” the President said, giving new edge to an earlier pronouncement that “heads will roll” over the escape.
READ: Marcos on Alice Guo’s departure: ‘Heads will roll’
In an interview in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City, Marcos said the public would find out “soon enough” the persons who will be charged.
In a video message posted on his Facebook and Instagram accounts earlier in the day, Marcos gave another warning, this time directed at persons like Guo who had gone into hiding instead of facing formal charges.
Will not ‘prolong’ case
“Let this serve as a warning to those who attempt to evade justice: Such is an exercise in futility. The arm of the law is long, and it will reach you. This government continues in its duty to apply the rule of law,” he added.
The President thanked law enforcement personnel who made Guo’s arrest possible and the Indonesian government for its “close cooperation” in efforts to bringing her to justice.
She will have all the legal protections she’s entitled to “pursuant to our commitment to the rule of law,” he said, “[b]ut we will not allow this to prolong the resolution of the case, whose outcome will be a victory for the Filipino people.”
Guo was recaptured by local authorities in the Indonesian capital more than a month after she was reported to have left the country undetected by immigration officials on July 18.
The dismissed mayor of Bamban, Tarlac, is facing a string of complaints mainly for human trafficking, money laundering and tax evasion, allegations that were heaped on her in the course of the congressional inquiry into her alleged links to a raided Philippine offshore gaming operator (Pogo) complex in her town.
She has also been accused of faking her Chinese identity to be elected to a Philippine public office and serve as the gaming hub’s protector. —Julie Aurelio