BI still clueless on Alice Guo escape details

MANILA, Philippines — Almost seven months after dismissed Bamban mayor and suspected Chinese spy Alice Guo escaped to Indonesia, immigration officials are still clueless about how she left the Philippines to evade an arrest order of the Senate.

At yesterday’s Senate hearing, Sen. Risa Hontiveros expressed frustration with the Bureau of Immigration (BI)’s dismal performance in figuring out the details of Guo’s escape in August last year.

“We are inutile as a country. It’s been four months and we still don’t know how fugitives got past our borders undetected,” Hontiveros lamented.

BI Intelligence Division chief Fortunato Manahan Jr. agreed with the senator.

Ports or sub-ports used by Guo and her siblings to escape also remain unknown, Manahan said.

“How did they manage to escape? Or was there a government official who helped them? Which port or coast of our archipelago did they flee from?” Hontiveros asked.

Counterparts of the BI across Asia have not replied to inquiries about the Guo siblings’ escape, Manahan said.

“We will check with the office of the commissioner if any reports have been submitted from November to this year,” he said.

No BI personnel helped Guo escape, Immigration Commissioner Joel Anthony Viado said.

Guo’s most probable mode of exit was through a backdoor in the southern part of the country, the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) said.

Aside from wanted criminals, human traffickers are using this backdoor to transport victims who end up working in scam hubs abroad, the BI previously reported.

Private coastlines and airstrips are not manned by the BI, Viado noted.

Viado has thanked the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking for its efforts to curb illegal backdoor exits.

Guo is currently detained and facing charges of qualified human trafficking, among others, stemming from her involvement in Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs).

Roque’s whereabouts

Hontiveros pressed the BI about the whereabouts of former presidential spokesman Harry Roque, who is also being probed for his reported involvement in POGOs.

“Where, for God’s sake, is Harry Roque?” she asked.

Roque had served as legal counsel for Whirlwind Corp., which leased a property to a raided POGO hub in Porac, Pampanga.

Hontiveros said she received a tip that Roque – who is allegedly hiding in Dubai – flew to Shanghai, China on Dec. 8 last year and stayed there for a day before flying to Macau.