MANILA, Philippines — Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco said on Tuesday that dismissed Bamban, Tarlac mayor Alice Guo has been in Jakarta, Indonesia since August 20.
In a dzRH interview, Tansingco said the latest information he received was “there is confirmation that she is in Jakarta, Indonesia. She has not left and the Indonesian Immigration is closely monitoring her if she will pass through the regular ports of entry.”
He added that Guo “flew last August 20 from Batam, Indonesia” and they are already in coordination with their Indonesian counterparts to intercept her if she attempts to leave Jakarta so she can be turned over to the Philippine government.
Tansingco claimed that Chinese national Wu Duaren is one of those assisting her and her companions in their transfer from one country to another.
Wu is reportedly also a person of interest since he has been included in the immigration lookout bulletin order in connection with the investigation of Philippine offshore gaming operators in Bamban, Tarlac and Porac, Pampanga.
The Immigration chief explained that Guo and her companions most probably left the country through illegal means as their names did not appear on regular exit points on their July records.
However, the BI has not yet identified how and which route Guo took in leaving the country.
“Unfortunately, we have more than 7,000 islands and they say there is a ‘backdoor.’ Someone could just rent a pump boat, go island-hopping and leave the country via Sabah (in Malaysia),” Tansingco said.
He also said they are still trying to reconcile the route taken, based on the information deduced from Shiela’s passport.
If they had taken the backdoor, the nearest would have been Sabah but “what we cannot reconcile is that on July 18 she already arrived in (Kuala Lumpur) Malaysia, and on July 19 she has a stamp of Sabah in her passport and on July 21 she left for Singapore.”
Tansingco has not yet confirmed if any personnel in his bureau is involved in the dismissed mayor’s escape as he “trusts that our officers would not do something that they should not do.”
The National Bureau of Investigation is also monitoring the whereabouts of Guo.
NBI director Jaime Santiago said they are closely monitoring her but the agency cannot yet disclose specific details.
When asked about the expected timeline for Guo’s return, the NBI chief said “as soon as our authorities locate her.” — Evelyn Macairan, Mayen Jaymalin, Mark Ernest Villeza