Atty. Howie Calleja
Indonesia being the largest archipelago has over 17,000 islands while the Philippines has only around 7,640 islands yet Indonesia managed to capture Bamban Mayor Alice Guo while on the other hand we did not only fail to apprehend her, we likewise allowed her to flee the country.
Added to this debacle, when Alice Guo, also known as Chinese national Guo Hua Ping was turned over to our government by Indonesian authorities, we made such an occurrence a seemingly “MEET AND GREET” moment with Alice Guo with all the smiles and “selfies” notwithstanding the fact that this fugitive is accused of ties to Chinese criminal syndicates and money-laundering to the tune of more than 100 million pesos ($1.8 million).
Personally, I equally share in the sentiments of Sen. Joel Villanueva when he remarked that such incident was, “So unprofessional … Seriously, do you want to take a picture with this treacherous fugitive!”. NBI agents acting like being in a fans club with their photos with Guo is just so sickening and unbecoming of an officer of the law. We made another mockery of the justice system.
As a Lawyer, I subscribe to the fact that “everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty” but allowing those “selfies” with whacky poses trivializes a serious matter to which may I remind everyone is not a laughing matter most especially when this individual managed to escape from our country in the first place. Also, I cannot recall any incident when the PNP or Sec Benhur Abalos presented captured fugitives with a smile. This likewise sends the wrong impression that we have “Double Standard” in the Justice System of our country which allows such behavior to which will never be allowed to other accused criminals. Honestly, such mockery displayed in her arrest turnover seemed to have signaled that we even rewarded her for evading capture in Philippine soil — what a shame.
Let’s put our act together. Alice Guo is now facing a total of 87 counts of money laundering, along with a human trafficking complaint in connection to the raided POGO hub in Bamban. The Tarlac Regional Trial Court Branch 109 also issued an arrest warrant for Guo in connection with a graft case. So, let’s not squander this opportunity to bring her to Justice and unravel the “real masters” behind this Chinese national.