Dismissed Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo’s final destination “definitely” not China, Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) spokesperson Winston Casio said Saturday.
Casio, in a news forum, cited China’s strict law enforcement against illegal gambling.
“She will definitely not go to China in as much as she is already a person of interest as far as China’s concerned because she’s accused of a serious crime in the Philippines in relation to illegal gambling,” Casio said when asked about Guo’s final destination.
“[We] know how strict China is in relation to gambling in their own territory. So, definitely, she would not be heading to any of those territories,” he added.
Thus, Guo will likely head to Southeast Asia's Golden Triangle region.
“So, the Golden Triangle, those countries are very porous in boundaries as I imagined and we know what the Golden Triangle entails when we talk about transnational organized crime,” Casio said.
“It’s more on offshore gaming operations — gambling. The Golden Triangle is very open to gambling operations,” he added.
The Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone is located in Bokeo province close to the borders between Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand.
It has long been notorious for a wide criminal activities including illegal drug production, online fraud operations, massive gambling, and human trafficking.
“What is the feasible territory that she would head into? As the as the commission is concerned, as far as the PAOCC is concerned, we’re confident that she’s trying to get into the Golden Triangle because the family, the Guo Family has business interests, gambling interests in Cambodia,” Casio said.
“So, that would be the safest bet that we have as of this moment.”
Casio said criminals from the Philippines will likely choose not to go to countries where extradition between that territory and the Philippines exists.
“I will not go to territories that are party to the international… to the United Nations… UNTOC so to speak, United Nations Convention on Transnational Crime – I will never go to those places kasi madali po akong ibabalik (because I will be returned easily),” he noted.
Casio said the illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) operations both in Bamban, Tarlac, and Porac, Pampanga “involves a transnational criminal organization.”
“In fact, as you may have known by now, the persons who have facilitated the escape of the Guo siblings — Katherine Cassandra Li Ong — into Batam are two international criminals as well – Zhang Jie, a Singaporean national and a Warren Wu, an individual of Chinese descent but now holding a passport from Saint Kitts,” he further explained.
Casio noted that the POGO operations in these areas are “large enough to be able to go through the different areas” within Southeast Asia.
“So, their interest is almost all over. If you go back to the biggest money laundering case in Singapore involving Zhang Ruijin and Lin Baoying, two of the partners of Alice Leal Guo, they were released. Zhang was released into Cambodia — repatriated,” he cited.
“Lin, on the other hand, was repatriated by her request, through her request into Japan. So, ganoon po kalawak iyong kanilang network. This is not a run-of-the-mill criminal organization,” he added.