PHILIPPINES: After spending months on the run, a former mayor of the Philippines who was thought to be a Chinese spy was taken into custody. The disgraced former mayor of the Philippine municipality of Bamban is named Alice Guo.
She is charged with using a fictitious identity to spy for China and participating in a criminal network that conducts money laundering, human smuggling, and international scams. Tuesday saw Guo’s arrest in Indonesia, where she had fled as the speed of the anti-her investigation quickened.
The revelation of Guo’s identity coincides with a period of strained relations between China and the Philippines as a result of ongoing Chinese aggression in the South China Sea.
The revelation that Chinese spies had infiltrated the Philippine government is expected to worsen tensions and negatively impact public perception of China. Guo’s case has already drawn interest from throughout the nation.
What is Alice Guo being accused of?
Guo’s reputation as a youthful, vivacious public servant helped her win election as mayor of Bamban, but her decline from favor has been swift. The fall began when the two workers from Malaysia and Vietnam who were being detained against their will in a Bamban building were brought to the attention of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC).
Since gambling is prohibited in China, the structure was thought to be a Philippine Offshore Gaming Operation (POGO), which provides gaming to Chinese nationals. According to the report, the authorities discovered that more than 800 individuals, including those from China, Vietnam, and the Philippines, were detained there without their will.
The report stated that the cops claimed to have recovered mobile phones, guns, and scripts used in “love scams” from that location. According to the investigation, the center was, therefore, operating a global con in which individuals were coerced against their will to pretend to be lovers in order to entice people to contribute money by posing as young women online.
According to BBC, the Philippine Senate launched a probe into the matter, which encompassed Mayor Guo’s involvement as well because the center was located near her office. Guo disappeared from the public eye during the probe as demand intensified on her to explain how her wealth increased to millions of dollars in just two years after becoming mayor.
According to the BBC, the authorities in Indonesia have stated that she fled through multiple boats and traveled through Malaysia and Singapore before arriving in Indonesia.
Alice Guo claimed to be a native of China
Guo was issued a warrant by the Senate for her actions after she disregarded their summons. But by then, she had disappeared. The authorities discovered that Guo was a Chinese national and that Alice Guo was not her true name as the investigation went on.
According to CNN, Guo’s fingerprints in government records matched those of a Chinese national with the same name, and immigration documents revealed that her true identity was “Guo Hua Ping.”
Further supporting the theory that Guo was a Chinese spy was the investigation’s discovery that the fraud center catering to Chinese nationals was operated by Guo in collusion with another Chinese individual
The Senate probe discovered that Guo and two other Chinese nationals were the three owners of Baofu Land Development, an entity that was registered in 2019 and was located at the address of the scam center.
