By Ade S. Fajardo

The Philippine Senate issued a warrant of arrest against Guo Hua Ping, aka Alice Guo, last July 10 because of her obstinate refusal to attend its hearings on offshore gaming activities in Tarlac.

The Senate hearings led by Senator Risa Hontiveros focused on the criminal POGO activities happening right behind the Municipal Hall of Bamban, Tarlac, where Guo held office as mayor until the Ombudsman removed her from her post.

While she ran as a neophyte politician, Guo’s victory at the polls was not a total surprise. It was evidently well lubricated with POGO money.

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The extensive coverage in traditional and social media made Guo arguably the most recognizable figure in current events.

Hundreds of memes have been made and circulated. It is a puzzle how she was able to sneak out of the country undetected from our borders.

Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla does not believe the canard that Alice Guo and companions Sheila Guo, Cassandra Ong and Wesley Guo fled the country using many boats. He said it is unlikely that these people who are used to luxurious lifestyles would ride these boats and expose themselves to the elements in the high seas for several days.

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We share Remulla’s incredulity.

It is likelier that some people at the Bureau of Immigration helped facilitate Alice Guo et al.’s exit from the country, as exemplified by the “pastillas” scam that allowed the illegal entry of hundreds of Chinese citizens into the country so they could populate the burgeoning POGO industry during the Duterte regime.

Immigration personnel received P10,000 to P20,000 in exchange for the seamless admission of Chinese nationals into our airports.

Remulla also scored Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco for not immediately relaying the information that Alice Guo may have left the country a week after the Senate issued a warrant for her arrest.

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Again, it was Senator Hontiveros who revealed that Alice Guo had already left for Kuala Lumpur. The Bureau of Immigration’s complete silence on the matter was borne of either incompetence, or worse, malice, and added to the confusion that could have helped the fugitives elude the long arm of the law.

Hontiveros also expressed utter disbelief over information that the border control and intelligence unit (BCIU) of the immigration bureau is now headed by an official who was ordered dismissed in an administrative case involving the pastillas scam.

This is Dracula managing the blood bank all over again.

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Hontiveros revealed that in 2022, the Ombudsman found Vincent Bryan Allas, current head of BCIU, guilty of grave misconduct and conduct prejudicial to the service for his complicity in the pastillas modus operandi. Why is he still in the bureau?

Now we get word that President Bongbong Marcos is moving to replace Tansingco as Immigration Commissioner. This was confirmed yesterday by Secretary Remulla himself.

The pastillas scam, a necessary ingredient to the POGO business, has come back to haunt the bureau that has made travel difficult for Filipinos and easy for foreigners with illegal agenda./WDJ