Former Philippine Mayor Under Investigation for Involvement in Cyber-scam Operations

By Lexi Dean

Alice Guo mug shot

Alice Guo, former mayor of a town in the Philippines, fled the country in July and failed to cooperate with the Philippine Senate in investigations of her association with Chinese criminal syndicates. This week, police arrested Guo in Indonesia and deported her to Manila on Friday where she faces potential charges for money laundering, human trafficking, and alleged links to Chinese organized criminals operating illegal online scams in southeast Asia. The public continues to scrutinize Guo’s optimistic attitude over her return to the Philippines. Guo claims she was happy and felt safe when she saw the authorities, alleging she had received many death threats. Philippine police authorities are urging her to disclose the big names involved in exchange for protection. 

After running for mayor of Bamban as a Philippine citizen in 2022, legal authorities later discovered that she is a Chinese national. The Philippines continue to grow suspicious of China, especially considering China’s movements and disputes of overlapping EEZ claims in the South China Sea. That suspicion grows even more with the Senate’s discovery of Guo’s real name and fingerprint match based on immigration records. Furthermore, Guo owned the land that maintained a facility conducting these online scams. During the raid of this facility, authorities uncovered foreign nationals that had been trafficked to work in what was suspected to be a Philippine Offshore Gaming Operation (POGO).

The United Nations reported on this issue last year where hundreds of thousands of people were trafficked by criminal organizations and forced to work in scam centers running illegal online operations in southeast Asia. Authorities uncovered hundreds of nationals claiming they have been working against their will in the facility made to lure people online to send money. President Marcos Jr expressed his concern about the flare-up of offshore scams that disguise as entities to manage financial scamming, money laundering, and more. Guo will soon appear in further hearings regarding these illicit activities.