ASEANEWS HEADLINE | MANILA: Ombudsman ousts Guo as mayor for Pogo role

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Alice Guo replaced by councilor as Tarlac town mayor

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MANILA, Philippines — The Office of the Ombudsman has ordered the dismissal from service of suspended Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo for grave misconduct over her “willful attempt to violate the law” as a public official who owned the sprawling property behind the municipal hall that housed illegal Philippine offshore gaming operators (Pogos).

It also ordered the forfeiture of all her retirement benefits and her perpetual disqualification to reenter government service.

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According to the 25-page decision approved by Ombudsman Samuel Martires on Monday, a special panel of investigators said Guo’s series of actions from when she was still a private citizen in 2019 up to when she was elected mayor in 2022 pointed to “ulterior motives” that were committed with a “willful intent to violate the law or disregard established rules.”

READ: Alice Guo’s quo warranto case not affected by order to dismiss her – OSG

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The investigating team was referring, among others, to Guo’s purchase in 2019 of the property of Baofu Land Development Inc., where two Pogos—Hongsheng Gaming Technology Inc. and Zun Yuan Technology—were eventually raided for operating without licenses or for running illegal businesses.

“When Guo started to discharge her duties and responsibilities as municipal mayor, she remained to be the real, true and actual president of Baofu… and [stood] to benefit from the continued operations of Hongsheng and Zun Yuan,” it said.

The Ombudsman probers pointed out that Guo, as Baofu president and Bamban mayor, applied for multiple clearances to construct Pogo buildings.

They also noted that the embattled mayor did not revoke or cancel the permit of Hongsheng following its raid in February 2023 for allegedly operating a cryptocurrency investment scam.

“This is a clear conflict of interest. The element of corruption… [is] quite evident,” they stressed.

Guo likewise granted business permits to Zun Yuan and failed to revoke them after it committed “deficiencies in its applications,” including the lack of a fire safety inspection certificate and an expiring provisional license from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor), they added.

Coaccused suspended

“While the local government unit of Bamban was not furnished with the orders of Pagcor canceling the license to operate of Hongsheng, Guo cannot feign ignorance of the illegal operations… because of her undeniable financial or business interest in their operation,” the investigators said.

“Besides, the raid of Hongsheng was in the news. The municipal building of Bamban where Guo holds office as mayor is also near the Baofu compound… She did nothing to investigate the activities of Hongsheng that led to the raid,” they added.

Bamban Vice Mayor Leonardo Anunciacion, the town’s legal officer Adden Sigua, business permit and licensing office head Edwin Campo, and nine current Sangguniang Bayan (municipal council) members were also found guilty of conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service and were suspended from their respective posts for three months. The charges against four former Sangguniang Bayan members were dropped.

The Ombudsman likewise asked the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to study whether former Bamban Mayor Jose Antonio Feliciano should be charged in connection with his possible role in the Pogo operations, specifically the “accommodation of the requests” made by Guo, his successor, for the municipal hall clearances.

Multiple cases

For his part, Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra on Tuesday raised two reasons why he would go ahead with the quo warranto petition that he filed on July 29 against Guo.

“Mayor Alice Guo may still appeal the (Ombudsman) dismissal order; [and] the quo warranto petition, if successful, will make [her] ineligible to run for any elective public position in the future,” Guevarra explained.

A quo warranto petition is a legal action against a person who “usurps, intrudes into, or unlawfully holds or exercises a public office, position or franchise.”

The solicitor general, in his petition before a Manila Regional Trial Court, cited Guo’s “ineligibility” to hold office as Bamban mayor for being a Chinese national.

Sen. Risa Hontiveros on Tuesday welcomed the “sound and sensible judgment” of the Ombudsman to dismiss Guo but said the ousted mayor should be held liable for violating the country’s laws.

“I trust that our law enforcers are working double time to catch this fugitive,” she said of Guo, who had gone into hiding after the Senate ordered her arrest for snubbing an ongoing investigation on Pogos.

“All these cases against Alice Guo are well and good, but as long as she remains on the loose, our search for justice will not be complete,” Hontiveros noted.

The Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission and the Philippine National Police filed last June a nonbailable qualified human trafficking charge against Guo before the Department of Justice over her alleged ties with the illegal Pogo hub in Bamban.

She was linked to an alleged “grand conspiracy to commit labor trafficking” of around 500 foreign Pogo workers who were rescued during a raid on the Pogo compound on March 13.

In July 2024, the Court of Appeals also ordered the freezing of the assets of Guo and several other individuals and companies allegedly involved in illegal Pogos.

Meanwhile, the Commission on Elections regional office in Central Luzon on Tuesday served the subpoena on Guo as the poll body begins its preliminary investigation on the material misrepresentation complaint filed against her. —with reports from Marlon Ramos, Jerome Aning, and Inquirer Research