Scandal deepens around Philippine fugitive mayor Alice Guo with freezing of assets

A lawmaker last Friday claimed billions in “dirty money” had passed through the accounts of Guo, the mayor of Bamban in Tarlac province, as the government’s Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) ordered her and her associates’ assets frozen.

The investigation into Guo began after police raided a Pogo compound in Bamban in March and rescued hundreds of trafficked workers and seized equipment used for scamming from the facility, which was built on land partially owned by the mayor.

Senator Risa Hontiveros said the Supreme Court’s arrest order was the “first step in making Mayor Alice Guo or Guo Hua Ping accountable to our laws.”

Other associates and employees named in the arrest order for their failure to answer the Senate subpoenas include Nancy Gamo, Dennis Cunanan and the mayor’s family – Sheila Leal Guo, Wesley Leal Guo, Jian Zhong Guo, Seimen Guo and Wenyi Lin.

“With all the lies and possible crimes by Mayor Alice and all those involved in Pogo, this is not merely procedural … We continue to wait for her to show up at the next hearing, along with the others listed and cited in contempt,” Hontiveros said.

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian on Friday lauded the AMLC for its decision to freeze the assets of Guo and her associates, adding that “this move signifies our commitment to upholding justice and is a critical step in preventing the dissipation of money and properties which are proceeds of various crimes.”

Gatchalian said a large amount was wired to Guo’s accounts from 2019 to 2024, with the bulk of the transactions made between 2019 and 2022 mostly being traced to China. This further raised suspicions, the senator said, as Guo could not justify why billions of pesos were being deposited in her account.

The AMLC said it found