MANILA: A Chinese woman who faked Philippine nationality to become a town mayor was sentenced on Thursday (Nov 20) to life in prison on human trafficking charges, a Manila regional court said.
Alice Guo, who served as mayor of a town north of the capital, was found guilty of overseeing a Chinese-operated online gambling centre where hundreds of people were forced to run scams or risk 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 the 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.
Although elected mayor of Bamban town, the site of the scam centre, a Manila court ruled in June that Guo, 35, was “undisputedly a Chinese citizen” and never eligible for the position.
Guo and seven other defendants, all of whom appeared via videolink, were sentenced to life in prison on Thursday, state prosecutor Olivia Torrevillas said outside a regional courthouse in Manila.
“After over just one year, the court … gave us a favourable decision. Alice (Guo) was convicted along with seven other co-accused. Life imprisonment,” Torrevillas said without revealing the names of Guo’s co-defendants.
Documents later released by the court identified the seven others as Jaimielyn Santos Cruz, Rachelle Malonzo Carreon, Walter Wong Rong, Wang Weili, Wuli Dong, Nong Ding Chang and Lang Xu Po.
Guo was arrested by Indonesian police in September 2024 after fleeing the Philippines.
She still faces cases involving charges of money laundering and graft.
Read the full article here
