MANILA – Two companions of dismissed Bamban, Tarlac mayor Alice Guo have been arrested in Indonesia, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said on Thursday.
According to Justice secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla, Cassandra Li Ong and Shiela Guo are both currently under the custody of Indonesian authorities.
He added that the arrest of the two only proves the connection between the POGO (Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators) hub in Bamban, Tarlac, which is being associated to the Guos, and Pampanga, which is being linked to Ong.
“This proves the connection between Bamban and Porac operations,” Remulla said on Thursday. “Definite connection was found, which means that Bamban and Pampanga are closely related.”
Remulla also said that Philippine authorities are now in close coordination with their Indonesian counterparts to quickly send Ong and Shiela back to the country.
The Office of the Ombudsman recently dismissed the controversial mayor from service for grave misconduct with forfeiture of all her retirement benefits as well as perpetual disqualification from public office.
According to the Ombudsman, Alice “remained to be the real, true, and actual President of Baofu” and stood to benefit from the continued operations of the raided POGO hub in her locality.
The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) also filed a tax evasion complaint against Alice as she failed to pay P500,000 in taxes for her alleged sale of her shares in the Baofu Corporation.
Alice is also facing a human trafficking complaint in relation to the raided POGO hub before the Department of Justice, while a petition seeking to remove Guo from office was also filed before a Manila court./PN
