Former Philippine mayor Alice Guo sentenced to life for human trafficking

MANILA – A Philippine court on Nov 20 sentenced Alice Guo, a Chinese national who became a mayor while masquerading as a Filipina, and seven others to life in prison on human trafficking charges, state prosecutors said.

Guo, who served as mayor of a town north of Manila, was found guilty of overseeing a Chinese-operated online gambling centre where hundreds of people were forced to run scams or face torture.

The sprawling complex, which included office buildings, luxury villas and a large swimming pool, was raided in March 2024 after a Vietnamese worker escaped and called the police.

More than 700 Filipinos, Chinese, Vietnamese, Malaysians, Taiwanese, Indonesians and Rwandans were found on site, along with documents allegedly showing that Guo was the president of a company that owned the compound.

Although elected mayor of Bamban town, the site of the scam centre, a Manila court ruled in June that Guo, 35, was “undisputedly a Chinese citizen” and never eligible for the position.

All eight defendants, some of whom were foreign nationals, were sentenced to life in prison, state prosecutor Olivia Torrevillas said outside a regional courthouse in Manila.

“After over just one year, the court... gave us a favourable decision. Alice (Guo) was convicted along with seven other co-accused. Life imprisonment,” Ms Torrevillas said, declining to name Guo’s co-defendants due to a confidentiality law.

Documents later released by the court identified the seven others as Jaimielyn Santos Cruz, Rachelle Malonzo Carreon, Walter Wong Rong, Wang Weili, Wuli Dong, Nong Ding Chang and Lang Xu Po.

Guo, 35, was arrested by Indonesian police in September 2024 after fleeing the Philippines.

She still faces cases involving charges of money laundering and graft.She still faces cases involving charges of money laundering and graft.

Victory against corruption

Senator Risa Hontiveros, who had led a Senate investigation into Guo, called the Nov 20 decision a “victory against corruption, human trafficking, cybercrime, and many other transnational crimes”.

In her statement, she went on to pledge to continue investigating “the full extent of Chinese intelligence operations in our country”.

The Chinese embassy on Nov 20 did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

The transnational scam industry has ballooned in South-east Asia in recent years, with thousands of scammers estimated to be involved.

Victims in the wider region were conned out of up to US$37 billion (S$48.4 billion) in 2023, according to a UN report, which said global losses were likely “much larger”.

The centres flourished in the Philippines under former president Rodrigo Duterte after the government regulator was given the right to issue operating licences nationwide.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr announced a ban on offshore gambling operations amid mounting public fury over the Guo case in 2024, ordering foreign nationals working at the sites to leave the country. AFP