Alice Guo, the fugitive former mayor of Bamban in the Philippines, has reportedly fled to Indonesia, according to Philippine authorities. Guo is accused of being a Chinese spy with ties to human trafficking through the online gambling industry.
Guo’s case gained national attention following a police raid on a Philippine Online Gambling Operator (POGO) complex in Bamban, Tarlac, last February. The business, Zun Yuan Technology, was suspected of crypto scams, human trafficking, and cybercrime. Authorities discovered hundreds of trafficked workers and Guo’s car at the scene. It was also revealed that Guo partly owned the land where the complex was located.
Further probing into Guo’s past raised national security alarms. She presented herself as a natural-born Philippine citizen, the daughter of a Chinese father and a Filipina maid, claiming a hidden upbringing on a pig farm. However, her opulent lifestyle seemed out of place for a small-town mayor. Her birth certificate was not registered until she was 17, and her fingerprints matched those of a Chinese national named Guo Hua Ping who entered the Philippines as a teenager.
Before her mayoral run in 2022, residents of Bamban, a town with a population of 78,000, had no knowledge of Guo. Her social media presence began the same year, with no prior digital footprint. These details fueled accusations of her being a Chinese asset, which she has denied amidst heightened tensions between Manila and Beijing over South China Sea territories.
A warrant for Guo’s arrest was issued after she missed two Senate hearings regarding her citizenship and the murky details of her history. According to the Philippines’ Bureau of Immigration and Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC), Guo left for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on July 18. She then flew to Singapore three days later and traveled to Batam, Indonesia, by ferry on August 18.
President “Bongbong” Marcos has expressed outrage over her escape, vowing that “heads will roll” due to the corruption exposed within the judicial system. Guo’s case has intensified calls for banning POGOs, which are predominantly run by Chinese nationals. The industry flourished under former President Rodrigo Duterte, who licensed and taxed it as long as it refrained from accepting bets from Philippine citizens.
From January 2017 to 2023, over 4,000 POGO-linked crimes, including kidnapping and murder, were reported, according to Philippine police. In response to these issues and the Guo scandal, President Marcos ordered the dismantling of the POGO industry last month.
