Philippines Court Gives Secretly Chinese Ex Mayor Life in Prison For Human Trafficking

A court in the Philippines has found a Chinese woman, who was pretending to be from the Philippines, for illegally trafficking people into the country.

The woman, Alice Guo, had been elected mayor of Bambam, which she had used to turn the municipality into a den of organised crime as well as a center for online fraud.

The Pasig City Regional Trial Court sentenced Guo to life in prison as well as fined her over $30,000 (PHP 2 million).

The court also ordered that everything that Guo owned in Bambam be seized.

Bambam is located in the Tarlac province, which is located to the north of the capital, Manila.

Guo became mayor of Bambam in 2022.

It was only in 2024 when authorities discovered the state that Bambam had gotten to.

Guo was questioned about any possible connections that she was suspected of having.

Her eligibility for holding office was also placed under suspicion and investigated.

State prosecutors described the verdict on Guo’s case as a big win in the fight against illegal trafficking.

How it Was Found

A raid on the den rescued over 800 people, some of them were citizens of Bambam, while others were immigrants.

Some of them shared that they had been used to carry out “pig butchering” schemes.

Authorities learned through an escaped worker of the existence of a total of 36 buildings: office buildings, luxury villas, and even a large swimming pool, all owned by Guo.

Documents found on the site show Guo’s name as the president of the company that owned the land where they had been built.

Guo’s Origins

An investigation found that Guo’s documents had been fake.

It was discovered that she hadn’t been born in the Philippines, but rather in China.

During her childhood, her family had migrated to the Philippines from China.

Documents also show her birthday didn’t match what she had told others.

Her fingerprints were matched to a Chinese woman named Guo Hua Ping.

In 2024, she managed to flee the country; however, she was arrested that same year in Indonesia.

Multiple cases against Guo are still ongoing, as she has allegedly also laundered money as well as committed graft.