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Alice Guo

Former mayor of Bamban, Tarlac, facing charges for POGO-related crimes

Alice Guo is the former mayor of Bamban, Tarlac.

She was dismissed from her position and is facing charges for crimes related to Philippine offshore gaming operators, such as human trafficking, money laundering, tax evasion, and falsifying documents to acquire Filipino citizenship. She has been sued by the Commission on Elections for lying in her candidacy certificate.

A series of Senate hearings exposed Guo’s links to POGO hubs where online scams were carried out by syndicates using persons trafficked from other countries. The sprawling POGO hub, on a property which Guo used to co-own, was right behind the municipal hall where she held office as mayor.

Guo fled to Indonesia, but was arrested by authorities there and was deported to the Philippines in September 2024. Her Philippine passport was canceled on October 4, 2024, due to her biometrics matching those of a Chinese national. She is under police custody.

As of January 2025, Alice Guo is facing 62 counts of money laundering charges in the Philippines.

Editors’ Note: This was produced with assistance from Rai, Rappler’s AI chatbot, that sources information from Rappler’s articles.