EDITORIAL - Laughingstock

“How did she Guo? Paano siya naka-Alice?”

As usual, Filipinos have turned to jokes to vent their frustration over reports that ousted mayor Alice Guo of Bamban, Tarlac managed to leave the country despite a high-profile Senate investigation into her citizenship and links to illegal activities traced to a Philippine offshore gaming operator hub.

Guo, said to be Chinese citizen Guo Hua Ping who faked Philippine citizenship to run for mayor of Bamban, left the country on July 18 reportedly for Denpasar, Indonesia before proceeding to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and then to Singapore on July 21. Immigration officials said she returned by ferry to Indonesia on Aug. 18.

As of July 18, she was the subject of an arrest warrant issued by the Senate due to her refusal to face the chamber’s committee on women, children, family relations and gender equality. She was also covered by an immigration lookout bulletin although there was no order yet preventing her departure. This meant Bureau of Immigration personnel were supposed to look out for her and alert authorities in case she left the country.

Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin has ordered the Department of Foreign Affairs and Department of Justice to cancel the passports of Guo, her siblings Sheila and Wesley and the authorized representative of the Bamban POGO hub, Katherine Cassandra Li Ong. The government has also sought Interpol help in apprehending Guo.

Dismayed lawmakers have said their probe into Guo’s alleged infractions would continue next week. They said they would summon lawyer Elmer Galicia, who claimed he personally met with Guo, who arrived in a Land Cruiser outside his office in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan on Aug. 14 so he could notarize her counter-affidavit on the human trafficking complaint filed against her.

An official of the Bureau of Immigration said Guo likely used the “informal ports of entry and exit” using a private airstrip, a boat or a yacht to leave the country.

Yesterday, President Marcos showed his displeasure by promising that “heads will roll” and there would be accountability. “We will expose the culprits who have betrayed the people’s trust and aided in her flight. A full-scale investigation is already underway, and those responsible will be suspended and will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” the President vowed. “There is no room in this government for anyone who places personal interest above serving the Filipino people with honor, integrity and justice.”

All these things must be done quickly and produce results. Alice Guo’s flight has not only given rise to jokes but is turning the country into a laughingstock.