‘Napakatanga namin’: PAOCC admits mistakes led to Guo’s escape

Failures and corruption within law enforcement agencies led to the escape of dismissed Bamban Mayor Alice Guo, Winston Casio, spokesman for the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC), said yesterday.

“There are moving parts in an escape operation like the one they did. Please forgive my language and forgive my frustration — napakatanga naman naming lahat sa law enforcement — kami lahat — at hindi namin siya nabantayan at nakita (We are all stupid in law enforcement — all of us — that we could not track her down when she came out of the country),” Casio said in a press forum.

“We don’t live in a fantasy world. We have to accept that corruption seeps into some government institutions.”

“Someone, somewhere, dropped the ball. Someone, somewhere, dribbled — kept dribbling the ball — so we really need to investigate. Any investigation should start with law enforcement. Investigate all of us. Call us in,” Casio added.

The PAOCC official admitted that the commission had received a tip that Guo had been spotted at a private resort on the western tip of Luzon on July 14.

“When we tried to execute the arrest warrant and mission order against Alice Guo or Guo Hua Ping, our source at that specific location informed us that she left in two speedboats, along with some members of her party, in the early hours of our operation,” he said.

The next time Guo appeared was on July 17 in Denpasar, Indonesia, from where she left for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

From Kuala Lumpur, Guo travelled to Singapore to meet her relatives before returning to Indonesia, where her sister Sheila Guo and her companion Cassandra Li Ong were arrested on 21 August.

Casio said Guo will likely avoid China because of Beijing’s tough stance on gambling-related crimes, and instead seek to head to countries in the so-called Golden Triangle: Myanmar, Laos and Thailand.

Casio said the former mayor has ties to Cambodia because the Guo clan has established business and gambling interests in the country.

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian previously said government agencies may have colluded to help Guo flee the country despite a warning bulletin on immigration.

The House of Representatives Budget Committee said Saturday it will investigate the use of intelligence funds after the escape of Guo and other high-profile suspects.

“Congress takes the allocation and use of intelligence funds very seriously. The escape of former Mayor Alice Guo despite an immigration bulletin is an incident of grave concern,” said committee chair Rep. Elizaldy Co of the Ako Bicol party-list.

“We must ensure that every peso of intelligence money is spent wisely. We want to prevent these missteps from happening again by ensuring stronger oversight and accountability,” he added.

Gatchalian, in turn, urged Sheila Guo and Ong to provide relevant information about illegal POGO activities.

“Sheila’s role is crucial. She held positions as an officer and shareholder in most of the companies owned by the Guo family (while) Cassandra Ong is the authorised representative of Lucky South 99 and even went to Pagcor to discuss the licence,” the senator said.

PAOCC said it may also pursue the issuance of a red notice against a certain “ZJ” who helped Sheila and Ong book a hotel in Indonesia.

Casio previously said ZJ was Zhang Jie, a former chairman of the Lucky South 99 POGO who was robbed in Porac, Pampanga.

Editor’s Note: This is an updated article. Originally posted with the headline “Guo could head to Southeast Asia’s ‘Golden Triangle’ — PAOCC”