- Guo’s casino front hid large-scale trafficking and scam operations.
- Investigations uncovered false identity and unexplained foreign-linked wealth.
- Arrest and sentence triggered nationwide crackdown on online gambling.
The former mayor of a small town in the Philippines who went on the run last year amid accusations of spying and links to criminal syndicates has been sentenced to life imprisonment for involvement in human trafficking.
In 2022, Alice Guo, now 35, was elected mayor of the sleepy town of Bamban where she had undisclosed interests in an online casino that secretly operated as a front for human trafficking and internet scams.
In March 2024, police raided the compound where they found 800 trafficked workers, as well as luxury villas and a network of underground tunnels. They also discovered Guo’s car and documents showing she previously owned part of the land on which the complex was built.
Fake Persona
Further investigation revealed she was not who she claimed to be. All of her social media accounts were registered the year she was elected, and residents said no one in the town knew her before that.
Guo claimed she was a natural-born Philippine citizen, a “love child” who had grown up “hidden” and friendless on a pig farm until she decided to stand for mayor.
But investigators discovered her birth certificate had been registered when she was 17 years old, and her fingerprints matched those of a Chinese national named Guo Hua Ping who entered the Philippines as a teenager.
Meanwhile, her bank accounts revealed her wealth was inconsistent with that of a small-town mayor and showed mysterious transactions to individuals and business entities in China.
All this led to accusations that Guo was spying for China. She denies those allegations, and she has not been charged with espionage.
On the Lam
In July 2024, amid a Senate investigation into her conduct, Guo disappeared, sparking an international manhunt.
She was ultimately arrested in Indonesia and extradited to the Philippines. On Thursday, she was one of seven to receive life terms for their connection to the Bamban compound.
Revelations about Guo sparked public outcry, prompting President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to shut down the country’s licensed online gambling industry and order all foreign nationals working in it to leave the Philippines.
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