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- EDD K. USMAN | Twitter: @edd1819 | Instagram: @bluestar0910 | Facebook: SDN – SciTech & Digital News
(SDN) Sept. 4, 2024 — After weeks of hiding, fugitive from Philippine justice ex-mayor Bamban, Tarlac, Alice Guo was finally arrested in Indonesia by law enforcement authorities.
Her arrest showed the long arm of the law is a persistent enemy of those who try to evade justice.
President Bongbong Marcos, Jr. (PBBM) emphasized this in a statement he issued today, Wednesday, congratulating “all enforcement personnel who made this apprehension possible.”
Her arrest was announced by the Department of Justice (DOJ) headed by Jose Crispin “Boying” Remulla and the Philippine Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) in Manila, Metro Manila, after being informed by Indonesian authorities.
Unless you have been hibernating under a rock, you will know the fugitive from justice, also known as Chinese citizen Guo Hua Ping (accordigng to the Senate), was earlier declared wanted by Congress because she snubbed susbsequent repeated invitations to attend a congressional hearing related to her alleged ties with criminal syndicates in China who operated the raided and now-padlocked Philippine Offshore Gaming Operation, or POGO, establishments in Bamban and in Porac, Pampanga.
Meanwhile, she claimed she is a natural-born citizen of the Philippines, branding the charges she is facing as “malicious accusations.”
But this has not stopped the country’s law enforcement agencies that include the AMLC, the Anti-Money Laundering Council, from jointly filing in August multiple counts of money laundering against her and 35 others before the DOJ.
“The public may not know the intricate details of this mission that you have successfully accomplished, but on their behalf, accept my thanks,” the President said in a video of him making the statement released by the Presidential Communications Office (PCO).
Marcos also extended his thanks to the Government of Indonesia for their assistance in Guo’s arrest, saying the governments of the Philippines and Indonesia’s “close cooperation made it possible.
“Let this serve as a warning to those who attempt to evade justice” Such is an exercise in futility. The arm of the law is long and it will reach you,” the President said confidently.
Alice Guo’s mystery-laden daring escape to Malaysia, along with her brother Wesley Guo and “sister” Shiela Guo was said to have occurred in July, even while her lawyer maintained she was still in the Philippines.
News reports said from Malaysia, they proceeded to Singapore with Wesley Guo remaining in the Lion City, and Shiela and Alice Guo proceeding to Indonesia.
Remulla vowed to hold accountable every single individual who backed or participated in the group’s illegal exit to the full extent of the law.
ASEAN cooperation on fugitives working
Their successful run from the law was consummated in spite of the Bureau of Immigration’s (BI) issuance of an Immigration Lookout Bulletin Order (ILBO) for the names “Alice Guo and Guo Hua Ping”, an indication of close monitoring on the names’ mentioned.
The President emphasized the government’s continued exercise of “its duty to apply the law.”
He assured the escapee Alice Guo is entitled to all legal protections due her under the law of the land, and in accord with the government’s commitment to the rule of law.
“But we will not allow this to prolong the resolution of the case, whose outcome will be a victory for the Filipino people,” Marcos assured.
He related that Alice Guo was arrested at around 1 a.m. on September 4, in Tangerang City, Jakarta, Indonesia.
The Philippines and Indonesia are both members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Recall that cooperation among ASEAN members also bore fruit when the government of Malaysia sent back then fugitive Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) Founding Chairman Nur P. Misuari to the Philippines after fleeing to escape authorities in the aftermath of the Cabatangan Complex fighting between MNLF rebels and government troopers in November 2001.
Malaysia is also an ASEAN member. (♤)