Alice in Fraudsterland? Guo faces more criminal complaints

The legal troubles of dismissed Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo continue to mount, as the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) filed three additional falsification complaints against her before the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Tuesday.

According to NBI spokesperson Ferdinand Lavin, the latest complaints stem from Guo's alleged use of a fraudulent identity to purchase three parcels of land in Sual, Pangasinan.

"In the acquisition of these properties, she stated that she is Alice Guo, that she is a Filipino citizen, when, in fact, we were able to establish she is Guo Hua Ping and she is a Chinese citizen and not a Filipino citizen," Lavin said.

Authorities assert that Guo's real name is Guo Hua Ping and that she is a Chinese national who migrated to the Philippines in her youth. Her lawyer, Atty. Stephen David, has maintained that questions surrounding her true identity must first be settled in court.

PAGCOR officers accused of enabling POGO scam

The NBI also filed human trafficking complaints against 11 officers and employees of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR), including Atty. Jayson Masuerte, for allegedly allowing illicit activities inside a Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations (POGO) hub in Bamban.

Lavin revealed that the PAGCOR personnel were supposed to monitor Zun Yuan Technology, the POGO firm linked to Guo, but instead turned a blind eye to fraudulent activities taking place behind the scenes.

"They allowed the operations of scamming activities at the backend of the POGO operations," he said, adding that the officials tolerated and, at some point, encouraged the scams.

The NBI is also weighing administrative charges of gross misconduct, serious dishonesty, and conduct prejudicial to public service against the PAGCOR employees before the Civil Service Commission (CSC).

DOJ greenlights laundering charges

Meanwhile, a DOJ panel of prosecutors has approved the filing of 62 counts of money laundering charges against Alice Guo under Republic Act No. 9160, or the Anti-Money Laundering Act.

Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla emphasized that the DOJ would respect the prosecutors' decision.

"The prosecutors, the panel that decided, so we respect that, we want it to be filed as soon as possible," Remulla said.

The money laundering complaints stem from an Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), NBI, and Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) investigation, which traced billions of pesos in suspicious transactions linked to Guo and her businesses between 2019 and 2024.

The DOJ disclosed that 31 of the 62 counts involve 30 other individuals, including Jian Zhong Guo (also known as Angelito Guo), Lin Wenyi (also known as Amelia Leal), Shiela Leal Guo, Siemen Leal Guo, Zhiyang Huang, and Rachelle Joan Carreon.

According to DOJ Assistant Secretary Atty. Mico Clavano, authorities discovered that the illicit activities uncovered during raids on Guo’s businesses were proceeds from illegal transactions.

"Some of the cases were dismissed because they did not meet the new threshold for filing, which includes prima facie evidence and a reasonable certainty of conviction," Clavano explained.

Guo's escape still a mystery

As legal proceedings continue, authorities have yet to explain how Alice Guo and her siblings, Sheila and Wesley, managed to flee the country undetected last year.

During a Senate subcommittee on Justice and Human Rights hearing, Senator Risa Hontiveros pressed the Bureau of Immigration (BI) for an answer.

"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?" she asked BI Intelligence Division Chief Fortunato Manahan Jr.

Manahan admitted that the BI still did not have an explanation, prompting a visibly frustrated Hontiveros to express her disappointment.

"It is very regrettable that four months have passed since our initial inquiry, yet this question remains unanswered," she said. "We should have known this by now. This should not even be a mystery."

The Department of Justice (DOJ) issued an immigration lookout bulletin order against Guo as early as June 2024 due to her involvement in the POGO probe. However, in August 2024, Senator Hontiveros revealed that Guo had already left the country for Malaysia.

By October, Indonesian authorities arrested Guo and her sister Sheila. Prior to this, Sheila and Cassandra Li-Ong, the authorized representative of the POGO hub Lucky South 99 in Porac, Pampanga, were also arrested in Indonesia.

Former BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco, who was relieved from his post in September, testified before the Senate that Guo’s Philippine passport bore no immigration exit stamps — indicating that she may have used a backdoor route to escape.