Witness who said Alice Guo is linked with POGO big boss maybe enrolled in WPP

An official of the Department of Justice yesterday said yesterday that a witness who linked dismissed Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo to Lin Xunhan, the so-called “big boss” or "kingpin" of illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) in the country, may be included in the Witness Protection Program (WPP).

“The person can be included in the WPP),” Justice Undersecretary Nicholas Felix "Nicky" Ty said in a Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon public briefing.

He said it depends on the agreement between the witness and the law enforcement and prosecutors.

One of the individuals who formerly worked for Lin or “Boss Boga” saw Guo transacting with Lin and said that they knew Guo, also identified as Guo Hua Ping, as “Madam Wah.”

“Talagang siyang-siya. Nalaman ko na nga lang po nu'ng mayor siya at saka siya si Alice nu'ng nagse-Senate [hearing] na. Personal ko po siyang nakikita kasi nagtra-transaction po sila,” the witness said.

(It’s really her. I only found out that she was a mayor and that she was Alice during the Senate hearings. I personally saw her because they had transactions with each other.)

He also said that Lin financed the establishment of the Hongsheng Gaming POGO, which later became the Zun Yuan Technology, in the Baofu Land Compound in Bamban, and while Lucky South is being developed they were financing the Zun Yuan Technology in Bamban.

“Boss Boga would give Madam Wah money. And Madam Wah would report to Boss Boga on the status of the Baofu Land. So they were partners. But Boss Boga had a higher rank,” said the witness in the vernacular.

Earlier, the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) said Lin established a network of scam operations or scam farms across five regions after he entered the country in 2016.

Lin operated under the aliases Bogo, Boga, Xiao Long, Apao, Pahao, and Hao Hao, and also utilized a passport and identity under the name Lyu Dong.

Ty said the alias “Madam Wah” has cropped up in previous investigations, and if he remembered correctly, it appeared during the probe into the Bamban POGO. “And for us, that is enough. Even if the name doesn’t appear in other POGOs, it is enough to link Madam Wah and Alice Guo to the Bamban POGO in the cases against her,” said Ty.

The DOJ official said the testimony will strengthen the evidence against Guo and others. Despite this, he maintained that their evidence against the former mayor is already strong.

Lin was arrested last week at a residential subdivision in Laguna.

Guo is facing a qualified human trafficking case before a Pasig court as well as a graft case before a Valenzuela court.

A quo warranto petition was also filed against Guo with a Manila court, along with a petition to cancel her birth certificate before a Tarlac court by the Office of the Solicitor General.

Guo is also facing a tax evasion complaint, 87 counts for money laundering, and a perjury and falsification complaint before the DOJ.

Guevarra said “the role of the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) will come in much later.”

During the Quad-Comm hearings, Garma recounted that in 2016, former President Rodrigo R. Duterte met her in Davao City to discuss the nationwide implementation of the “Davao model” in the war against illegal drugs.