Dismissed Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo, along with her siblings Sheila and Wesley, fled through an unknown backdoor exit in the Philippines.

Sheila Guo admitted this on Tuesday before the joint hearing of the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights with the Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality, and Public Services into the alleged escape of their family.

According to Sheila, who was apprehended in Indonesia last week alongside Cassandra Li Ong, the authorized representative of Lucky South 99, the POGO hub in Porac, Pampanga that was closed by authorities for illegal operations, their family left the Philippines by sailing several boats.

"We boarded a boat," she told senators in response to Senator Risa Hontiveros, the committee chairperson, who asked how they managed to leave the Philippines.

She noted, however, that she was unaware of the point of departure.

Sheila and Ong were arrested in Indonesia on 21 August after they attempted to return to Singapore. They were brought back to the Philippines on 22 August.

Sheila claimed that she only remembered that their family was picked up by a van from their farm in Tarlac for around five hours and transported to an unknown port in the country.

After arriving from the unknown port, she noted that they rode a small white boat, which she said could only accommodate at least five to 10 people, then transferred to a larger boat.

“We rode the boat around midnight and we were there until morning," she said.

Sheila said they boarded another boat, which they used to reach Malaysia.

Citing an intelligence report, the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission said that Alice and her siblings were last sighted in a heavily guarded private resort in Zambales last month.

Backdoor

During the hearing, it was established that the Guo family possibly left the country for Malaysia using a backdoor.

According to Justice Undersecretary Nicholas Felix Ty, the Guo family could have used a backdoor in Luzon, where he said trafficked victims were previously rescued.

Meanwhile, National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) chief Jaime Santiago said the Guo family possibly used a backdoor in the southern Philippines, particularly in Bongao, Tawi-Tawi.

"Our theory is that they used a backdoor and traveled for four to six hours by boat, speedboat, from Bongao to Sabah, because that is the closest route to Sabah,” he told senators.

For their part, Philippine Coast Guard Deputy Commandant for Operations and Vice Admiral Rolando Punzalan Jr. said there are backdoors in Zamboanga and Sulu.

Asked how Guos were able to escape using these backdoors, Punzalan said the main challenge for the agency is the nature of the country’s coastlines.

“The challenge really is the porous nature of our coastline. It was very open but nonetheless, it is through the developments that I have mentioned that we are beefing up or building up our capacity to cover as much as we can,” he told senators.

Senators expressed disappointment on how these backdoors were used by several individuals, particularly Arnie Teves, to escape from their legal liabilities in the country.

"It has been repetitive. The last one, Arnie Teves, also left the country undetected. It's just the same thing over and over again," said Senator Joel Villanueva.