Philippine senator would not rule out ex-mayor Alice Guo works as a Chinese spy

On Friday, a Philippine senator investigating claimed ties to Chinese criminal syndicates said she would not rule out her probable espionage involvement.

Running for mayor of Bamban as a Filipino but also known as Chinese citizen Guo Hua Ping, Alice Guo is under criminal allegations related to corruption coming from claims she used her authority to let offshore gaming bloom in her municipality.

“I’m not yet ready to conclude that she is not involved, or that the people connected to her are not involved in espionage,” Senator Risa Hontiveros told foreign correspondents.

Following a casino raid in Bamban in the province of Tarlac, a senate committee headed by Hontiveros started looking into Guo in May after law officials reported frauds perpetrated from a facility on land she partly owned.

Hontiveros had asked Guo in past hearings whether she considered herself as China’s “asset.” Maintaining she is a natural-born Philippine citizen, Guo has denied she is a spy and other charges against her are malicious.

Her case has engulfed the Philippines during a period of mounting mistrust of China’s activities in response to escalating conflicts in the South China Sea whereby the two countries have conflicting claims.

The embassy of China in Manila and Guo’s attorney did not react right away to inquiries on the comments made by Hontiveros.

Guo’s planned Friday arraignment was postponed by a court as it deliberated on her appeal to have the charge dropped. She turned up for court sporting a ballistics helmet and mask.

Guo, Bamban mayor since 2022, was sacked from office this month for serious misbehavior by the Ombudsman. She also comes under complaint on money laundering at the Department of Justice.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has ordered Guo to reveal how internet gambling companies aiming at consumers in China, where gaming is outlawed, have veered into criminal activity.

China had encouraged Manila to forbid online gaming to support its own crackdown on cross-border gaming before Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators, sometimes known as POGOs, were banned in the Philippines.

“In the case of the rise of POGOs and of people like Guo Hua Ping, we have seen numerous and deep links to transnational crime syndicates that have victimised not only our own citizens here in the Philippines, but also citizens from all around the world,” Hontiveros said.

“It’s bigger than the Philippines,” Hontiveros remarked, noting the senate’s investigation had “only started to scratch the surface”.