Alice Guo sentenced to life for qualified human trafficking by Pasig court
MANILA, Philippines (Update 3, 2:18 p.m.) — Former Bamban, Tarlac mayor Alice Guo was found guilty of qualified trafficking in persons.
The verdict was handed down on Thursday, November 20. Guo was convicted along with her seven co-accused by the Pasig Regional Trial Court Branch 167.
The Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) initially said the penalty imposed on Guo and the others is reclusion perpetua. However, the ruling sent later by PAOCC showed that the penalty against the former mayor is life imprisonment.
Reclusion perpetua is a penalty for violations under the Revised Penal Code, which carries 20 to 40 years of imprisonment, along with accessory penalties
Life imprisonment, on the other hand, is a penalty for violations under Special Laws, such as in Guo's case. Unlike reclusion perpetua, it has no fixed duration.
The RTC also ordered the Securities and Exchange Commission to permanently cancel and revoke the registration of Baofu Land and Development Inc., Hongsheng Gaming Technology Inc. and Zun Yuan Technology Inc.
The following are the convicted co-accused, according to the PAOCC:
For “organizing trafficking” inside the Baofu compound:
- Alice Guo
- Jaimielyn Santos Cruz
- Rachelle Malonzo Carreon
- Walter Wong Rong
For acts of trafficking:
- Wang Weili
- Wuli Dong
- Nong Ding Chang
- Lang Xu Po
In an ambush interview, Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Olivia Torrevillas said that eight of Guo’s co-accused were acquitted.
However, she did not reveal the names of the acquitted individuals, citing confidentiality.
Torrevillas also said that the compound owned by Baofu Land Development Inc. was forfeited in favor of the government.
“The Baofu Compound is forfeited in favor of the government,” Torrevillas said.
The former mayor and the other co-accused, however, did not attend the promulgation in person. She attended the verdict via video conference.
How it started. The case arose from illegal activities tied to Philippine offshore gaming operators in Bamban, Tarlac, where a Chinese-run online gambling center forced hundreds to run scams under threat of 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 police.
More than 700 Filipinos, Chinese, Vietnamese, Malaysians, Taiwanese, Indonesians and Rwandans were found on site, along with documents allegedly showing that Guo was president of a company that owned the compound.
Guo, 35, was arrested by Indonesian police in September 2024 after fleeing the Philippines.
Although she was elected mayor of Bamban town, the site of the scam center, a Manila court ruled in June that as a Chinese citizen, Guo was never eligible for the position.
The Chinese embassy on Thursday did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
The transnational scam industry has ballooned in Southeast Asia in recent years, with thousands of scammers estimated to be involved.
Victims in the wider region were conned out of up to $37 billion in 2023, according to a UN report, which said global losses were likely "much larger".
The centers flourished in the Philippines under former president Rodrigo Duterte after the government regulator was given the right to issue operating licenses 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 out of the country. — with reports from Agence France-Presse
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