Manila [Philippines], August 22: The Philippines has provided the passport of a former mayor suspected of being Chinese to Interpol to take appropriate action against the fugitive official.
Senator Risa Hontiveros said on August 21 that the Philippines has turned over the passports of former mayor Alice Guo , her siblings and businessman Cassandra Ong to Interpol for appropriate action, according to Inquirer.net .
The Department of Foreign Affairs has informed Hontiveros of this information. "Based on information from the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Philippine passports of the above-mentioned persons, namely Guo Hua Ping (aka Alice Guo ), her sister Sheila and brother Wesley Leal Guo, and Ms. Cassandra Ong, have been forwarded to the Interpol Transnational Crime Center in the Philippines for appropriate action," the lawmaker said.
Interpol can now put Ms Guo and the others on its blue or red list. The red list is a list of internationally wanted persons, while the blue list is a list of people who are involved in criminal investigations but are not necessarily wanted. The blue list is usually just for collecting information about suspects and investigations.
Hontiveros noted that the agencies are closing in on Alice Guo and her associates, especially after an international organization like Interpol was notified of their alleged criminal activities. The lawmaker earlier reported that Alice Guo had left the Philippines in July.
The former mayor came under scrutiny after a Philippine Senate committee on women revealed her suspected links to Zun Yuan Technology, an online gambling operator in Bamban City, Tarlac province, where she was mayor. Questions about Alice Guo's background were also raised, leading to accusations that she was a Chinese spy, which she strongly denied. Alice Guo was recently removed from office.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. announced on August 21 that a thorough investigation would be conducted into how Alice Guo was able to flee the country and that those responsible would be suspended from their posts and held accountable to the fullest extent of the law , according to The Guardian . The presidential office also ordered the cancellation of Alice Guo's passport.
Ms. Alice Guo is said to have gone to Malaysia on July 18, then flew to Singapore before taking a ferry to Indonesia's Riau Islands on August 18. However, Ms. Alice Guo's lawyer said she is still in the Philippines, according to Reuters.
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper
