Philippines extradites ex-Mayor Alice Guo from Indonesia

UPDATED at 5:22 p.m. ET on 2024-09-05

An ex-Philippine mayor wanted by authorities for alleged ties to illegal gaming operations was extradited on Thursday from Indonesia, where she was apprehended a day earlier after weeks on the lam, officials said. 

Television footage from Jakarta showed a smiling Guo as she faced reporters, took selfies with some officials and talked with Philippine Interior Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr., before they boarded a chartered flight to Manila.

The plane landed at Villamor Airport in Manila after 1 a.m. local time on Friday, according to Philippine news reports.   

“[Guo] will undergo a medical examination to ensure that she is in good condition before we turn her over to the Senate, which has issued an arrest warrant [in July],” Philippine National Police spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo said.

“[A]ccording to our police attaché, she really wanted to surrender and face all the cases against her,” Fajardo added.

After her extradition, Philippine immigration authorities arrested Guo and took her into custody, according to local news outlet ABS-CBN.

In Jakarta, reporters overheard the former mayor telling Filipino officials that she had feared for her life due to death threats. Guo did not identify who made the alleged threats against her, when members of the press asked her about this.

Guo is facing multiple cases, including criminal complaints for alleged money laundering. Philippine immigration officials and intelligence operatives said Guo had fled the country in July.

On Wednesday, Indonesian authorities arrested Guo in Tangerang City, about 30 km (18.6 miles) from Jakarta.

Guo was the subject of a congressional probe into alleged criminal activities involving Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs). Several senators alleged that she had ties to criminal syndicates and had faked her Philippine citizenship. 

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

POGOs are online gaming firms that cater to foreign customers, especially nationals from China, where gambling is illegal. Philippine authorities, however, have said that some POGOs were illegal and serving as fronts for criminal operations. 

In July, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered the shutdown of all POGO sites in the country that proliferated during the administration of former President Rodrigo Duterte, whose term ended in 2022.

‘Innocent unless proven otherwise’

Sen. Risa Hontiveros said Guo was expected to face senators on Friday. 

“I fully expect that [Guo] will talk fully and truthfully, because her arrest proves that she cannot escape. [Guo] may have escaped, but she was apprehended. She has nowhere else to go,” Hontiveros told reporters.

On Thursday, Guo’s lawyer Stephen David said his client would properly answer the charges and accusations against her.

“We trust that [Guo] will demonstrate her courage and resilience in the face of adversity and in properly answering the charges and accusations against her,” said David, citing his client is “innocent ... unless proven otherwise.”

“We respectfully urge the public to refrain from making crude and malicious comments and baseless accusations as all matters related to our client will be ventilated and answered in the proper forum and before courts of competent jurisdiction,” David added.

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Guo’s alleged POGO ties

In February and March, authorities raided two POGOs operating in a Bamban property allegedly owned by Guo’s company. 

Documents presented to the Senate allegedly showed that Guo had personally applied for one of the two firm’s business permits in 2020.

Guo had admitted that she once owned half of the company that owned the property where the two POGOS were operating. However, Guo said she had divested from the business before running for public office in 2022.

The Senate hearing also led to questions on the nationality of Guo, the first woman mayor of the small town of Bamban, in central Luzon.

In June, the National Bureau of Investigation said that the fingerprints of Alice Guo and Guo Hua Ping, a Chinese national who arrived in the country in July 2003, matched. 

Last month, Manila’s Office of the Ombudsman ordered her 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.

Jeoffrey Maitem, Jojo Riñoza and Gerard Carreon in Manila and Pizaro Gozali Idrus in Jakarta contributed to this report. 

This story has been updated to include the arrest of former Mayor Alice Guo by the Philippine immigration bureau following her extradition from Indonesia.