Alice Guo’s great escape: testimony reveals how fugitive former mayor fled the Philippines

A senate committee accused Guo and her companions of spending US$3.5 million to pave the way for their undetected exit from the country

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The Philippines’ National Bureau of Investigation’s (NBI) fingerprint examination found Mayor Alice Guo’s fingerprints were identical to those of a woman named Guo Hua Ping, her suspected real identity, who came to the country as a Chinese national teen in 2003 with a Chinese passport. Photo: Facebook/AliceLealGuo

Published: 6:14pm, 28 Aug 2024

The sister of Alice Guo, the fugitive former Philippine town mayor under investigation for her alleged ties to Chinese crime rings, revealed how her infamous sibling managed to flee the country as President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr pledged to punish officials involved in the saga.

Shiela Guo told a Senate hearing on Tuesday that she, along with her siblings Alice and Wesley, were taken from their farm in the town of Bamban by a van to a port where they boarded a small white boat last July.

Hours later, they were transferred to a bigger boat and then a small vessel before arriving in Malaysia’s Sabah state. From there, the trio travelled to Singapore and met Cassandra Li Ong, who accompanied them to Indonesia’s Batam in August.

Shiela and Ong were arrested in Indonesia last week and deported to Manila, where they face multiple charges including using a false Philippine passport and facilitating the escape of a criminal offender.

Ong is believed to be the authorised representative of an illegal online gaming firm in Porac, where more than 100 foreign and Filipino workers were rescued during a raid in June.

A photo of Alice Guo’s sister Sheila Gyo and Cassandra Li Ong in the custody of Indonesian authorities shared by Philippine Senator Risa Hontiveros. Photo: Instagram / @hontiverosrisa

According to the National Bureau of Investigation, Shiela is also known as Chinese national Zhang Mier.