Marcos fires immigration chief over ex-Philippine Mayor Alice Guo case

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. fired his immigration commissioner over a series of alleged lapses, the latest involving the undetected departure overseas of a former mayor who was on a government watchlist, officials said Tuesday.

Norman Tansingco was the first ranking official to lose his job in connection with the case of Alice Guo, the ex-mayor of Bamban town in Tarlac province, who was removed from her post over ties to illegal gaming operations. She was arrested in Indonesia and extradited to the Philippines last week, after weeks on the run.

Incensed at the time by Guo’s departure abroad, Marcos last month warned that “heads will roll” over the incident. 

Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said he had recommended Tansingco’s dismissal to the president over a series of alleged lapses, ranging from the immigration bureau’s alleged inaction on visas issued to fake corporations to Guo’s undetected departure. These left the secretary “unsatisfied” with the immigration chief’s performance.

“There were many lapses,” Remulla told reporters.

He accused Tansingco of failing to promptly inform the justice department about Guo’s departure in July, despite authorities having issued an Immigration Lookout Bulletin Order against the former mayor. 

An ILBO instructs immigration authorities to alert the Department of Justice if a person under such an order attempts to leave the country. 

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Remulla also cited allegations that immigration personnel had helped over 500 fake Philippine companies get thousands of working visas for foreigners.

“The issuance of working visas was very questionable. I called his attention to it, but he did not do anything,” Remulla said.

Tansingco or his spokesperson did not immediately reply to a request from BenarNews for comment.

The Philippine Bureau of Immigration is under the direct control and supervision of the justice secretary.

Remulla named Joel Anthony Viado, the deputy immigration commissioner as the bureau’s acting chief in the place of Tansingco, who had led the agency since September 2022.

Senate President Francis Escudero commended Marcos “for acting decisively” to carry out his warning that heads would roll in connection with the “embarrassing escape” of Guo.

“I am of the belief that there were other personalities, possibly officials in government other than the Bureau of Immigration, who helped her,” Escudero said. 

Guo – the former mayor of Bamban, a town in northern Tarlac province – was the subject of a Senate hearing into the alleged criminal activities involving Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) when she left the country. 

Guo on Monday appeared before the Senate hearing but was cited for contempt by the Senate committee on women for allegedly “testifying falsely and evasively.” 

Senators had earlier accused former Mayor Guo of having ties to illegal gaming operations and faking her Philippine citizenship. 

Philippine authorities said that the fingerprints of Guo and a person named Guo Hua Ping, a Chinese national who had arrived in the country in July 2003, matched.

Guo, who became mayor of Bamban in 2022, maintained she was Filipino and denied having links to illegal POGOs.

In July, Marcos ordered the shutdown of all POGO operations, which had proliferated during the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte (2016-2022).

In mid-August, the Office of the Ombudsman ordered Guo dismissed as mayor for “grave misconduct,” and disqualified her from running for public office again. In the Philippines, the ombudsman has disciplinary authority over elected and appointed government officials, including mayors.

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