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‘Kung mapakita na ikaw ang nag-organize ng isang negosyo na may madaming ganap na human trafficking, maaari kang kasuhan,’ DOJ Undersecretary Nicholas Felix Ty explains Guo’s indictment
MANILA, Philippines – The prosecutors handling dismissed Bamban, Tarlac mayor Alice Guo’s trafficking complaint have indicted her, the Department of Justice (DOJ) confirmed on Friday, September 13.
“Sa simpleng sabi na lang, ang hatol sa preliminary investigation laban kay [dismissed] mayor Guo ay may finding na may prima facie evidence for qualified trafficking in persons. At lumabas na ‘yong information at ipa-file namin next week sa korte ‘yong information na ito,” DOJ Undersecretary Felix Nicholas Ty said in a press conference.
(In simple words, the preliminary investigation into dismissed mayor Guo found that there’s prima facie evidence for qualified trafficking in persons. The information is already out, and we will file this information with the court next week.)
Qualified trafficking is non-bailable and usually carries the penalty of life imprisonment.
Ty explained that under the latest amendment of the anti-trafficking law, specifically section 4(l), organizing an establishment engaged in human trafficking is punishable: “Doon talaga nadawit si [dismissed] mayor Guo at sa mga ibang co-respondent niya…. Kung mapakita na ikaw ang nag-organize ng isang negosyo na may madaming ganap na human trafficking, maaari kang kasuhan.”
(This is where dismissed mayor Guo and her co-respondents were implicated. If it were proven that you organized a business where human trafficking cases happened, you could be charged.)
The DOJ official in charge of the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking added that cases will also be filed against alleged POGO bosses Zhang Ruijin and Lin Baoying, and Dennis Cunanan, a former government official convicted in the pork barrel scam.
“We have not yet received the DOJ resolution regarding this. Our comment is, this is totally unexpected because, if you read the complaint in all of the cases in the DOJ, there is absolutely no evidence that Dennis is a conspirator in any conspiracy,” Je Clerigo, Cunanan’s lawyer, said.
The Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission and the Philippine National Police (PNP) filed the trafficking complaint against Guo and 13 others back in June over their ties with a Bamban Philippine offshore gaming operator (POGO). Guo was specifically implicated due to her incorporation of a leasing company called Baofu, which rented its spaces out to a POGO called HongSheng/Zun Yuan.
Evidence of torture and trafficking had been found at the POGO.
The dismissed mayor is currently detained at the PNP Custodial Center after a Tarlac court issued an arrest warrant against her in relation to the graft case filed by the interior department. Prior to the warrant, Guo flew from the Philippines and authorities only announced her escape after Senator Risa Hontiveros revealed that the dismissed mayor had already left the country in July.
The PNP failed to catch her for nearly two months, or after the Senate ordered her arrest for snubbing the upper chamber’s hearings on POGOs. Guo was arrested in Indonesia and was deported back to the Philippines on September 6 and has been in the PNP custody since then.
Aside from trafficking and graft, Guo also faces two criminal investigations at the Department of Justice for tax evasion, and another one for money laundering. These are all related to her alleged ties with the Bamban POGO. – Rappler.com
