 "Chinese woman turned Philippine mayor sentenced to life for human trafficking – Firstpost")
Guo, who pretended to be Filipino to win the mayor’s seat, was found guilty of human trafficking after authorities discovered a compound that forced more than 700 people into the scam.
A Philippine court on Thursday sentenced Alice Guo, a Chinese national who masqueraded as a Filipino to work as a mayor, to life in prison on human trafficking charges along with seven others, state prosecutors confirmed.
Guo, who held office in a city north of Manila, was found guilty of running a Chinese-run online gambling center where hundreds of people were forced to run scams under threat of torture. The sprawling complex consisting of office buildings, luxury villas and a large pool was raided in March 2024 after a Vietnamese worker escaped and alerted authorities.
More than 700 people from the Philippines, China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan, Indonesia and Rwanda were discovered at the site, with documents indicating that Guo was the president of the company that owned the compound.
All eight defendants, some foreign nationals, received life sentences.
State prosecutor Olivia Torrevillas told reporters, without naming Guo’s co-defendants due to privacy laws, “After just over a year, the court gave us a favorable verdict. Alice (Guo) was convicted along with seven other co-defendants and sentenced to life in prison.”
A spokesman for the Philippine Anti-Organized Crime Commission said AFP Guo and three others were convicted of “organizing smuggling”, while four others were found guilty of “acts of smuggling”.
Guo, 35, was arrested in Indonesia in September 2024 after fleeing the Philippines. Although Bamban was elected mayor of the city, a Manila court ruled in June that she was never eligible for the position as a Chinese citizen.
The international scam industry has grown in Southeast Asia, with victims losing an estimated $37 billion in 2023, according to the United Nations. The centers flourished under former President Rodrigo Duterte, who allowed nationwide licensing. In response to the Guo case, President Ferdinand Marcos banned offshore gambling operations in 2024 and ordered the deportation of foreign workers.
end of article
About The Author
