Guo skips DOJ hearing on trafficking case

Suspended Bamban Mayor Alice Guo —Marianne Bermudez

MANILA, Philippines — Suspended Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo snubbed anew on Monday the preliminary investigation being conducted by the Department of Justice (DOJ) on the trafficking charge filed against her and 13 others, the second one this month.

Fortunately for her, state prosecutors submitted a supplemental affidavit to include an additional respondent and four complainants in the case, extending her deadline for filing a counteraffidavit to Aug. 6—“a new opportunity to explain her side to the proper forum,” according to Justice Undersecretary Nicholas Ty.

“Most of [the respondents] appeared but Mayor Guo, Dennis Cunanan and then the foreign respondents, they were not there but were represented by a lawyer,” Ty, who heads the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking, told reporters in an interview.

The case stemmed from a complaint filed by the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) and Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in the DOJ on June 21, alleging that Guo and the other respondents were involved in the operations of Philippine offshore gaming operator (Pogo) hubs in Baofu compound in Tarlac province.

Her co-respondents are former government official and pork barrel scam convict Cunanan, Zhang Ruijin, Baoying Lin, Rachelle Joan Carreon, Huang Zhiyang, Thelma Laranan, Rowena Evangelista, Rita Yturralde, Merlie Joy Castro, Yu Zheng Can, Jaimielyn Cruz, Roderick Paul Pujante and Juan Miguel Alpas.

Authorities claimed the Pogo hub, Hongshen Technology, which subsequently became Zun Yuan Technology, facilitated forced labor, human trafficking, online fraud, and investment scams.

More complainants

Ty, meanwhile, said the additional respondent allegedly recruited people to work in the Pogo hubs.

As for the four additional complainants, they would “prove the scamming activities” in the Pogo hubs, PAOCC spokesperson Winston Casio said.

“They will also prove that they are not able to leave the area freely, they are imprisoned there, they are only given one day to get out; and there is also a deduction in their wages,” he added.

Aside from the trafficking charge, Guo is also facing arrest for repeatedly snubbing recent Senate hearings on the Pogo industry.

In a Facebook post last week, the suspended Bamban mayor said she was “ready to face” the allegations against her “in a fair trial and at [the] proper forum.”