Bamban Mayor Alice Guo —Marianne Bermudez
MANILA, Philippines — After writing to the Senate and the Office of the Ombudsman, Mayor Alice Guo of Bamban, Tarlac province, now wants the Palace itself to hear her out.
The embattled local executive on Tuesday appealed to the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) for a fair investigation as she expressed willingness to cooperate in the search for the truth behind criminal activities being linked to Philippine offshore gaming operators (Pogos).
In a letter to Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who also chairs the PAOCC, Guo again denied any connection to Baofu Land Development Inc., whose sprawling Pogo complex in Bamban town was raided by authorities in March.
READ: Alice Guo: ‘I am innocent’
“…I wish to respectfully and humbly ask the PAOCC to conduct a thorough and impartial investigation into these allegations [against me]. I am confident that a deep analysis on the veracity of the information will prove that I do not have anything to do with all these allegations against me,” she said in the letter.
Compelled to write
Written in Filipino, Guo’s six-page letter was hand-carried to Bersamin’s office in Malacañang by two of her lawyers.
It was accompanied by a two-page cover letter from the David & Jamilla Law Offices, signed by lawyer Nicole Rose Margaret Jamilla, and a copy of the documents Guo earlier submitted to the Senate committee on women, children, family relations, and gender equality concerning its ongoing investigation.
The mayor said she felt compelled to write a personal letter to the PAOCC to address the “serious and baseless” accusations against her, such as her alleged involvement in money laundering, human trafficking, kidnapping, and other crimes that took place in the raided Pogo hub in her town.
“The allegations have damaged not only my reputation but also my capability to effectively lead as mayor of Bamban,” said Guo, who on June 3 was ordered by the Ombudsman to go on preventive suspension for six months, along with two other town officials, while they are under investigation.
She reiterated that she had already divested herself of any business interest in Baofu before she was elected mayor in 2022. “There is also no truth to allegations that my divestment is ‘simulated’ because this was properly documented, which [papers] are also considered public.”
Guo also disputed the “narrative” that she ran for mayor to protect Baofu and all Pogo-related activities in Bamban. “My decision to seek election as mayor is borne by a genuine desire to improve the lives of our people, with whom I have lived since childhood, and not to protect my personal business interest,” she said.
Signing is not proof
“As mayor, I am ready to cooperate in the investigation so that the truth will come out and the perpetrators shall be prosecuted,” she said. “I am prepared to cooperate by providing all documents or testimonies in order to clear my name.”
Her act of signing a business permit for Baofu may not be considered automatic proof that she served as “a protector, a cohort or an accomplice’’ to the illegal activities committed at the Pogo hub in Bamban, she stressed.
As a mayor, she also thus had no control over the day-to-day operations of Pogo, whose licensing is under the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., she added.