MAYOR GUO ATTENDS HEARING ON HUMAN TRAFFICKING: Former Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Leal Guo or Guo Hua Ping appears before the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations, and Gender Equality. Guo arrived at the Philippine Senate in Pasay City Monday morning, September 9, 2024, to attend the scheduled hearing on alleged human trafficking and cyber fraud operation at the Clark Freeport Zone. (Senate Public Relations and Information Bureau)
MANILA, Philippines — Dismissed Bamban Mayor Alice Guo is now facing a nonbailable case after the Department of Justice (DOJ) charged her with qualified human trafficking at the Pasig Regional Trial Court (RTC).
DOJ spokesperson Jose Dominic Clavano IV said on Wednesday they were awaiting the issuance of arrest warrants for Guo, who was accused of being part of a “conspiracy” that allowed a Philippine offshore gaming operator (Pogo) hub in her town to engage in human trafficking activities, among other crimes.
Also charged were former Technology and Livelihood Resource Center deputy director general and Zun Yuan Technology representative Dennis Cunanan and 12 executives and founders of three Pogo companies.
READ: NBI says Alice Guo’s signature didn’t match in counter-affidavit
They were believed to be Guo’s business partners for the Pogo hub, according to the case submitted to the Pasig RTC on Tuesday afternoon.
The case stemmed from a complaint filed by the Philippine National Police and the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission, following a raid in March on a Pogo hub in Guo’s town of Bamban, Tarlac.
Conspiracy
The Pogo was operated by Zun Yuan Technology and located on a property owned by Baofu Land Development Inc. Guo was linked to the case through her leasing company, Baofu, which rented out spaces to Zun Yuan.
Authorities alleged that this was part of a “grand conspiracy to commit labor trafficking.
Justice Undersecretary Nicholas Ty earlier said Guo’s indictment was for violation of Section 4(l) of Republic Act No. 11862, or the Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2022, which penalizes persons who “organize, provide financial support, or direct other persons to commit acts of trafficking.”
“So, the defense of Guo and the other respondents, claiming that they did not recruit, inflict harm, or torture the trafficking victims, will not work under the new law,” Ty said on Sept. 13.
Clavano said authorities would take custody of Guo—who is currently detained at the PNP Custodial Center at Camp Crame—as soon as the Pasig RTC issues arrest warrants.
PNP probe on ‘payola’
This is “regardless of whether she has been released from the Senate (where she is facing another investigation), and even if she decides to post bail in Capas, Tarlac (where she faces a graft case).”
Guo has not posted bail so far in her case before the Capas RTC Branch 109. Doing so would be pointless because of her detention at the Senate, her lawyers earlier explained.
Also on Wednesday, the PNP leadership vowed to look into the disclosure made in the Senate by Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. senior vice president Raul Villanueva about the rumored involvement of senior police officials in a Pogo payola system.
“According to our PNP chief Gen. Rommel Francisco Marbil, we will investigate this and no one will be spared,” PNP spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo said.
Spy chief: No such ‘talk’
“There will be no sacred cows in the investigation, even if it means holding a former PNP chief liable. Although they said these were just rumors, these are serious rumors involving a former PNP chief,” she said.
“We’re talking about 24 names here. There were 29 PNP chiefs before General Marbil but four have already passed away. There will be no sacred cows regardless of who he is,” Fajardo said.
National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (Nica) chief Ricardo de Leon denied Villanueva’s allegation of such chatter in the intelligence community.
“There’s no such ‘talk.’ I have no knowledge about the supposed ‘talks’ in the intelligence community,” De Leon told reporters after presenting Nica’s proposed 2025 budget in the Senate
“There’s (no investigation) as of this time … And if we receive such information, then we will validate it first,” said De Leon, himself a retired PNP deputy chief.
Sen. Ronald dela Rosa, who was the PNP chief when Pogos started to flourish during the Duterte administration, warned Villanueva about his next Senate appearance.
“I will hold him to account in our next hearing. This information should have been validated thoroughly first before he disclosed it,” he said, noting that such restraint was expected of Villanueva who was once a ranking military intelligence officer. —with reports from Frances Mangosing and Marlon Ramos