China ‘planted’ Mayor Alice

China allegedly “arranged” the mayoral bid of dismissed Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo, also known as Guo Hua Ping, in the 2022 national elections.

This was revealed during Tuesday’s resumption of the Senate committee hearings on Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) in Bamban and Guo’s alleged ties to them.

Senator Risa Hontiveros, chair of the Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality who spearheads the hearings, presented a recorded interview with Wang Fugui, a former cellmate of She Zhijiang, the China operative who earlier revealed the alleged espionage operations of China in the Philippines in an Al Jazeera interview.

Wang corroborated the claim made by She, who is currently detained in Thailand on human trafficking, forced labor and scam charges, about Guo being in his dossier.

According to Wang, Guo’s campaign for mayor of Bamban was arranged by China’s Ministry of State Security, the principal civilian intelligence, security and secret police agency of the People’s Republic of China.

“I was his (She’s) cellmate, we were good friends who trusted each other and were together in prison for one and a half years. After my release, he entrusted me to handle some of his declassified files,” Wang said in Chinese that was translated to English.

“Her (Guo’s) campaign itself was arranged by Chinese state security,” he said.

Wang implicated Guo as an agent of the China Ministry of State Security. Guo was a spy but “not a special one,” he said.

“[T]he contents of the declassified files kept by Mr. She was large, and I have only declassified a portion under his authorization. Guo Hua Ping was a spy but not a special one,” he said.

He continued: “It just so happens there was a copy of her state security background in the files. And her situation and Mr. She’s have a lot of similarities. That’s all I can say, because I’m not Mr. She himself, and according to my agreement with him, I can only reveal so much, sorry.”

Wang noted that “field agents” recruited by the China Ministry of State Security have their “very detailed background information investigated, and there are also special hacking teams and hometown associations and chambers of commerce in charge of overseas information collection, including of the secrets and weaknesses of some people that will be held in the background information.”

“This is the main method of controlling the overseas field agents by State Security. For example, Guo Hua Ping’s fake Filipino identity is such a secret and a weakness that she can only listen to State Security. Mr. She’s experience is similar,” he said.

Guo’s handler

Wang also named the alleged handler of both Guo and She, whom he said was a member of the Chinese Communist Party (CPC), the founding and sole ruling party of the People’s Republic of China.

“Ma Dongli, a member of the CPC. He is Mr. She Zhijiang’s state security contact, he is the second generation of the Reds, he has an American identity, and he is also the vice president of the Thai Chinese Association,” he told the Senate panel.

“[T]here is a high probability that he is also Guo Hua Ping’s handler and that Mr. She Zhijiang’s contact with Guo Hua Ping is through Ma Dongli, that is the only thing that I can answer,” he added.

According to Senator Win Gatchalian, Ma traveled to the Philippines between 1995 to 2018 at least 37 times.

Meanwhile, She traveled to the Philippines at least 21 times from 2011 to 2020.

“Ma Dongli is a partner of Mr. She in the Yatai Myanmar Company, which operates the POGO hub in Myanmar,” Gatchalian said.

Hontiveros said the hub was responsible for the human trafficking of Filipinos, who were forced to engage in a cryptocurrency scam by the Chinese mafia in Myanmar’s Shwe Kokko Special Economic Zone or Yatai New City in 2022.

For its part, the Bureau of Immigration said that Ma’s recent travel to the Philippines was from 22 June 2018 to 27 June 2018.

“As per our record, he already left the country on 27 June 2018 and has not yet returned,” BI Commissioner Joel Viado said.

Only Alice

Asked whether there were other Chinese spies operating in the country, Wang said: “I don't have the authority to answer this content because it is too complicated and involves a very wide range of fields. I can only tell you that the Chinese government has a very big appetite.”

Meanwhile, Wang affirmed She’s willingness to cooperate with the Philippine government to further investigate reported Chinese espionage.

“Mr. She is grateful to the Philippines and believes he has not harmed the Filipino people. He is also willing to cooperate with the Philippine government,” he said.

Upon the resumption of the Senate hearing following an executive session, Guo was asked for her side.

“I do not know [Ma]. I don’t have a handler. I am not a spy,” she told the panel.

POGO, scamming connected to China’s Belt and Road Initiative

Wang also alleged that illegal gambling operations and scamming businesses are “totally connected” to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a massive China-led infrastructure project that aims to stretch around the globe.

“Of course, there is a correlation, it has a lot to do with the Chinese government's exuberant intelligence. There's also the fact that all of this is totally connected to the Belt and Road, which is also just part of a huge united front and intelligence strategic plan for the whole world, including foreign colonization tactics,” he said.

Last year, the Philippines, under the administration of President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., swerved away from the BRI.

Transport chief Jaime Bautista said the Philippines is dropping China as the funding source for the three major railway projects in the country – the Laguna-Bicol railway project, the Subic-Clark railway project, and the first phase of the Mindanao Railway Project.

Beijing initially pledged almost $5 billion to build the three major railways across the country.

Bautista claimed that the decision to cancel the projects was attributed to China's disinterest.

The development, however, coincided with increasing tension between Manila and Beijing in the West Philippine Sea, culminating in a series of confrontations between Philippine vessels and the China Coast Guard in the West Philippine Sea.

It was in 2018 when the Philippines became an official member of the BRI, under then-President Rodrigo Duterte.

The DAILY TRIBUNE has sought a comment from the Chinese Embassy in Manila regarding Wang and She’s revelations, but it has yet to respond as of press time.