The Philippine government must allow dismissed Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo and other personalities linked to illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) operations in the country to remain as Filipinos.
In a news forum on Saturday in Quezon City, Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) spokesperson Winston Casio cautioned the concerned government agencies that canceling the Philippine passports would work in favor of Alice Guo and other POGO-linked personalities.
“As far as the Commission is concerned and as far as our team with IACAT (Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking) is concerned, we would want them to be incarcerated in the Philippines to answer for all their crimes in the country,” he said.
Casio said the government must ensure that Guo and her supposed cohorts in crimes will be accountable on Philippine soil.
Alice Guo is currently facing criminal complaints over her alleged involvement in illegal POGO operations in Bamban, Tarlac as well as falsifying documents of her nationality.
Guo’s exit from the Philippines prompted several lawmakers and the Office of the President to urge the Department of Justice and the Department of Foreign Affairs to cancel her passport.
Casio, however, sees a different scenario should the DOJ and DFA cancel the Philippine passports of Alice Guo and her alleged siblings, Sheila Guo and Wesley Guo.
By doing so, Casio said Guo could be put under the protection of the United Nations.
“Obviously, they have already committed a crime as far as their immigration status is concerned. They are undesirable aliens because they are found working in a place of criminal refute — ‘di ho ba, which is already a good basis for their visas to be canceled. When you cancel the visas of those foreign nationals, they are already deportable,” he said.
Casio noted that it would be difficult for Chinese nationals who acquired another citizenship to reacquire Chinese citizenship.
“Then what would happen to Shiela, Alice, Wesley, et al? They would become stateless individuals. I’d hate it if they would become refugees and they would fall under the framework of the United Nations Commission for Refugees,” Casio said.
He said the Guo siblings might take on a different legal character and eventually “they would be protected by that legal character.”
Casio lamented it would be more problematic for the Philippine government if the Guo siblings became stateless.
“It would be a bigger problem for us if they become stateless. Let them remain as Filipinos first, then papanagutin natin sila dito. Habang nasa loob ng kulungan, cancel the passport. Then, by the time na matapos ang kanilang sentensya… saka natin ‘yung problemahin kung saan natin sila itatapon (Let them remain as Filipinos first then hold them accountable. When they get jailed, cancel the passport. Then, let’s deal with where we're going to take them by the time their sentence is over),” Casio pointed out.