Hontiveros slams gov’t officials posing for photos with Alice Guo

Photo from PNP

MANILA, Philippines — “Si Alice Guo ay pugante. Hindi po ‘yan celebrity.” (Alice Guo is a fugitive. She is not a celebrity.)

These were the words used by Sen. Risa Hontiveros to air her disapproval of the viral photos of some government officials gamely posing for photos with Guo before the dismissed Bamban mayor was brought back to the Philippines from Indonesia.

“Paalala lalo na sa mga kawani ng gobyerno: Si Alice Guo ay pugante. May kasong human trafficking. Hindi po yan celebrity,” Hontiveros simply said in a post on her Facebook page on Thursday.

(I just want to remind everyone, especially those in the government: Alice Guo is a fugitive. She has a human trafficking case. She is not a celebrity.)

The viral pictures show some agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and Bureau of Immigration (BI) posing for photos with Guo. Some images show Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos and Philippine National Police chief Rommel Marbil with the dismissed local official.

Guo was arrested in Tangerang City, Jakarta, Indonesia at 1:30 a.m. on Wednesday, according to the NBI and the Department of Justice, citing information from Senior Superintendent Audie Latuheru of the Indonesian Police.

She has an arrest order from the Senate for refusing to appear, despite due notices, at the committee on women’s hearings. She has been the subject of scrutiny after the Senate panel on women bared her ties to raided Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator firm Zun Yuan Technology Inc. in Bamban, Tarlac.

Questions about her citizenship were also raised, leading to allegations that she is a Chinese spy, which she vehemently denied. The NBI, however, earlier confirmed that she and Chinese national Guo Hua Ping are one.

READ: Alice Guo arrested in Indonesia – DOJ, NBI