Metro Manila, Philippines — Dismissed Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo might be heading to the “Golden Triangle” region in Southeast Asia, an official of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) said Saturday, Aug. 24.
“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 interest, gambling interests in Cambodia,” PAOCC spokesperson Winston Casio told a forum. “So, that would be the safest bet that we have as of this moment.”
The Golden Triangle comprises parts of Myanmar, Thailand, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, and Vietnam. Cambodia, meanwhile, borders Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline along the Gulf of Thailand to the southwest.
“It depends where in the Golden Triangle she will land… 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 explained.
He also said China as Guo’s possible destination is out of the question as “she’s accused of a serious crime in the Philippines in relation to illegal gambling – and we know how strict China is in relation to gambling in their own territory.”
On Aug. 19, Sen. Risa Hontiveros revealed that Guo left the country undetected on July 18. Hontiveros said the dismissed mayor went to Malaysia then to Singapore, before taking a cruise to Indonesia.
Her sister Shiela and business associate Cassandra Li Ong were caught in Indonesia and have already returned to the Philippines.
The Bureau of Immigration said there was no record in their system that Guo, who has an immigration lookout bulletin order against her, exited the country.
“And, this would not have happened if no private individuals or maybe public officials have assisted her,” Casio said. “Kasi [Because] an operation of that magnitude has so many moving parts, and to control an information such as that would require a technical expertise that is not available to just a simple private individual, so kinakailangan po ng malalimang imbestigasyon dito [this needs a deep investigation].”
The Office of the President has ordered the Justice and Foreign Affairs Departments to cancel Guo’s passport as the scandal of her exit surfaced.
But the PAOCC spokesperson also cautioned against the cancellation of Guo’s passport as her being stateless could also mean she would be protected by the United Nations Commission for Refugees.
Casio said there is still no red notice, or an international arrest warrant, from the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol), because the Philippines has not yet issued a warrant of arrest against Guo.
The qualified trafficking in person complaint filed before the Department of Justice is still pending resolution.
