Ex-Mayor Guo to return to PHL after Indonesia arrest
DISMISSED Bamban Mayor Alice L. Guo was expected to arrive in Manila on Thursday evening after her arrest in Indonesia, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin C. Remulla said.
Ms. Guo will be turned over to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Bureau of Immigration (BI) before being handed to the Senate, Mr. Remulla told reporters after the DoJ’s congressional budget briefing.
She is expected to arrive “around midnight,” he said. He noted the NBI will be asked to examine Ms. Guo’s passport and documents. She will also undergo questioning.
This followed the departure of Secretary of the Interior and Local Government Benjamin C. Abalos, Jr. and Police Chief Rommel Francisco D. Marbil late Wednesday evening, to fetch the embattled mayor from Jakarta. They were joined by other officials of the DoJ, NBI, BI, Department of the Interior and Local Government, Philippine National Police (PNP).
In a separate virtual briefing on Thursday, PNP Spokesperson Jean S. Fajardo said Ms. Guo will land at Villamor Airbase. She will then be brought to Camp Crame in Quezon City aboard a chartered flight.
Ms. Guo will undergo a physical and medical examination to ensure she is in proper shape before she is turned over to the Senate to fulfill the arrest warrant. Ms. Fajardo said the PNP was ordered to fulfill the arrest warrant.
Also on Thursday, a new arrest warrant was issued against Ms. Guo before Regional Trial Court Branch 109 of Capas, Tarlac for her alleged corruption.
Philippine authorities in August said that Ms. Guo fled the country undetected, passing through Singapore and Malaysia to Indonesia, where she was eventually nabbed by Indonesian police. Her last public appearance was in a Senate probe in May.
NO PRISONER SWAP
In an interview, DoJ Spokesman Jose Dominic F. Clavano IV told BusinessWorld that the deportation of Ms. Guo seems “unconditional” and “absolute” amid reports of a prisoner swap request.
“It seems unconditional, it seems absolute that they will give back Alice Guo to us,” Mr. Clavano said in mixed English and Filipino.
“There was no official request [from the Indonesian government],” he added. “The only thing that we’ve seen are Indonesian press releasing statements.”
Indonesian media reported that Indonesian authorities have requested to barter alleged Australian drug personality, who was arrested by the BI last May in Cebu.
Ms. Guo will face human trafficking, tax evasion, and money laundering charges before Philippine courts, DoJ Undersecretary Nicholas Felix L. Uy told congressmen at a congressional budget briefing.
“We expect more criminal charges [to be] charged against them in the Department of Justice,” Mr. Uy added, referring to Ms. Guo and her alleged cohorts in the filed cases.
Secretary Remulla said the NBI is already tracing the origin of her Philippine birth certificate to allow the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) to start building up its case on a petition seeking to void the documentation.
The OSG in July moved to cancel Ms. Guo’s birth certificate after she failed to comply with the legal requirements for late birth registration.
“It’s up to the OSG now to cancel the birth certificate, so that the cancellation of her passport could begin,” Mr. Remulla said in Filipino. The DoJ last month deferred canceling Ms. Guo’s passport after her reported escape from the country, citing legal technicalities.
609-YEARS JAIL TIME
The Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) on Thursday said Ms. Guo and her siblings face at least 609 years of jail time if convicted of the 87 counts of money laundering linked to illegal offshore gaming they are facing.
AMLC lawyer Adrian Arpon told a Justice and Human Rights Commitee hearing that the former mayor and her siblings, who were recently apprehended in Indonesia, the money laundering violations against them carry with them a penalty of at least seven years in jail and as much as 14 years per count.
The agency, NBI, and the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission earlier filed a complaint against the Guos for 87 counts of money laundering.
“That’s (609 years) beyond one’s lifetime,” Senator Ana Theresia N. Hontiveros-Baraquel said at the same hearing, addressing Shiela Guo, the former mayor’s sister.
“I hope you can think about that carefully, Ms. Shiela, as you head the answer from AMLC.”
Senator Sherwin T. Gatchalian cited the need for law enforcement agencies to delve deeper into how those involved in Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations, which the government has since banned, were able to easily launder money.
“I want to understand from the Anti-Money Laundering Council how this big amount came in, where did it go and who were paid by this money,” he said at the same hearing. — Chloe Mari A. Hufana, Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio, and John Victor D. Ordoñez