BI admits Guos escape last year remains a mystery

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) has yet to find out how dismissed Bamban Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo, also known as Guo Hua Ping, and her siblings, Sheila and Wesley, managed to leave the country undetected last year.

During Tuesday’s Senate subcommittee on Justice and Human Rights’ hearing, Senator Risa Hontiveros sought answers from BI Intelligence Division Chief Fortunato Manahan Jr. about how the Guos and her alleged cohort, Cassandra Li-Ong, were able to travel to Malaysia in July despite being on its watchlist.

“If you could tell the committee, on record, chief Manahan, for the BI, in short, the Bureau of Immigration has yet to find out the answer to this question?” Hontiveros asked Manahan, which he answered affirmatively.

Visibly unsatisfied with the answer, Hontiveros stressed that it was “very regrettable” that four months had passed since the committee's initial inquiry, yet the question remained unanswered.

“If you can imagine the frustration that the whole committee and our chair, the Senate would feel about this kind of status. We have yet to solve — this should not be even a mystery. It is a simple matter of fact that we have known by now,” she said.

As early as June 2024, the Department of Justice issued an immigration lookout bulletin order against Guo, who has been at the center of the Senate investigation into the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) in her town.

However, in a privilege speech in August, Hontiveros revealed that Guo had left the country for Malaysia. Two months later, she was apprehended in Indonesia, through the help of Indonesian authorities.

Prior to her arrest, Sheila, alongside Cassandra, the authorized representative of Lucky South 99, the POGO hub in Porac, Pampanga that was closed by authorities for illegal operations, were also apprehended in Indonesia.

Former BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco said that Guo's Philippine passport did not include any Philippine immigration stamps, which means that they did not go through immigration authorities.

Tansingco was relieved from his post as Immigration chief in September following Guo and her cohorts' escape.

Based on a previous testimony before the Senate, Sheila said their family left the country by sailing several boats from an unknown backdoor exit in the Philippines.

During the committee hearing in August, at least three possible exit points were identified as potential escape routes for the Guo family.

Justice Undersecretary Nicholas Felix Ty suggested that the Guos may have exited through a backdoor in Luzon, a route previously linked to human trafficking cases.

Meanwhile, National Bureau of Investigation chief Jaime Santiago pointed to the southern Philippines, specifically Bongao, Tawi-Tawi, as another possible escape route.

For his part, Philippine Coast Guard Deputy Commandant for Operations Vice Admiral Rolando Punzalan Jr. suggested that the Guo family may have escaped through backdoor routes in Zamboanga and Sulu.