AP – Indonesia deported a dismissed Philippine town mayor accused in Manila of helping establish an illegal online gaming and scam centre and evading an investigation by the Philippine Senate.
Alice Guo, 34, will continue her legal process in Manila, according to a written statement from Indonesia’s Law and Human Rights Ministry’s Directorate General of Immigration.
Indonesian police arrested Guo on Tuesday in the outskirts of Jakarta. In exchange, Indonesian authorities hope that the Philippines will repatriate Australian Gregor Johann Haas, one of Indonesia’s most-wanted drug suspects, who was arrested in central Philippines in May. Guo was scheduled to undergo a medical checkup at the police headquarters before being handed to the Philippine Senate.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr thanked Indonesia on Wednesday for the arrest of Guo, who was accused in the Philippines of helping establish an illegal online gaming and scam centre catering mostly to clients in China.
Guo was also accused of being a Chinese spy and of faking her Filipino citizenship, which allowed her to be elected in 2022 as mayor of the rural town of Bamban in Tarlac province north of Manila.
Guo, who denied wrongdoing, was dismissed from her post for grave misconduct by the Ombudsman, a Philippine agency that investigates and prosecutes government officials accused of crimes including graft and corruption.
After Guo fled the Philippines in July, she was tracked in Malaysia and Singapore before turning up in Indonesia. Two companions, who reportedly slipped out of the Philippines with her, were recently arrested in Indonesia and immediately deported to the Philippines.
In July, Marcos ordered a ban on widespread and mostly Chinese-run online gaming operations, accusing them of involvement in human trafficking, torture, kidnappings and murder.
Chief of the international division of the national police Khrisna Murti said on Wednesday in Jakarta that “exchange efforts are still being negotiated” over the return of Haas.
