Alice Guo leaves Camp Crame, brought to Senate

Dismissed Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo left the Philippine National Police (PNP) Custodial Center in Camp Crame on Monday morning and was brought to the Senate building in Pasay City.

Guo, handcuffed and wearing a bulletproof vest, left Camp Crame on board a white coaster bus around 8:35 a.m.,  according Mark Makalalad's report on Dobol B TV.

For her security, Guo was accompanied by the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team as well as personnel from the PNP's Highway Patrol Group (HPG). 

A separate report by Mao dela Cruz on Dobol B TV said Guo arrived at the Senate building a few minutes later. She was immediately ushered into a holding room.

Ex-Mayor Alice Guo arrives here at the Senate to attend the investigation on the raided POGO hub in Bamban. Guo is being linked to the illegal POGO operations @gmanews pic.twitter.com/M6rXyI4oXv

— Hana Bordey (@HanaBordey) September 9, 2024

Guo will attend the Senate investigation into the illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) operations which she evaded since May 22.

The Capas, Tarlac Regional Trial Court Branch 109 has granted the Senate's request for Guo to appear in the continuation of the legislative investigation into the illegal POGOs in the country. 

Guo is currently in the custody of the PNP Custodial Center after the Tarlac court granted her motion to be detained in the facility. 

PNP spokesperson Police Colonel Jean Fajardo said Guo requested to have access to faith-based books particularly the Bible and Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Life

“Ang na-request lang po ni Mayor Alice Guo ay mga libro po. Yun yung pinagkakaabalahan niya. Yung libro ay nakita ko po yung Purpose Driven Life at saka yung isa Bible. So faith-based po yiung libro pinakiusap niya,” Fajardo said in an ambush interview.

(The only thing Mayor Alice Guo requested were books. That's what she’s spending her time with. The books I saw were Purpose Driven Life and the Bible. So the book she requested is faith-based.)

A day before the Senate hearing, Guo was reported to have experienced stomach-ache after drinking tap water at the custodial center. She was reportedly feeling better as of Sunday afternoon. 

Guo, who is facing human trafficking complaints, among others, last attended a Senate hearing in late May. She illegally left the country in July and was apprehended in Indonesia and brought back to the Philippines last week.

The former mayor is being linked to the operations of an illegal POGO hub that was raided by law enforcement authorities in Bamban.

In July, the Senate ordered Guo and her other family members’ arrest for repeatedly failing to attend the upper chamber’s investigation into the raided POGO hub in her town.

Guo first appeared at the Senate investigation last May 7. Her second and last attendance was on May 22.

Guo was nabbed by Indonesian authorities in Tangerang City last Wednesday. She arrived in the Philippines early Friday morning. —KBK/KG/RSJ, GMA Integrated News