Alice Guo graft case to be transferred from Capas to Valenzuela RTC

The graft case against dismissed Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo will be transferred from the Regional Trial Court in Capas, Tarlac to the Valenzuela Regional Trial Court.

Capas Regional Trial Court Branch 109 earlier ordered the arrest of Guo in connection with the graft charges filed against her.

Senate Majority Leader Francis Tolentino, however, had argued that the graft case should not have been filed with the Capas RTC but outside the judicial region where the dismissed mayor held office.

Guo, who also faces complaints of human trafficking, undesirability and misrepresentation under Philippine immigration laws, was brought back to the country on Sept. 6 aboard a private plane.

Arrested in Indonesia, Guo is believed to have left the Philippines illegally in July amid the controversy surrounding her citizenship and her alleged link to a raided Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) hub in Bamban.

The dismissed mayor, along with 35 others, is facing 87 counts of money laundering filed by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) amounting to around P7 billion in relation to the raided POGO hubs in Bamban and Porac, Pampanga.

A quo warranto petition has also been filed against Guo, who is also identified as Guo Hua Ping, with a Manila court, as well as a petition to cancel her birth certificate before a Tarlac court. She has denied the accusations against her.

Last July 13, the Senate issued an arrest order against Guo for repeatedly failing to attend the upper chamber’s investigation into the raided POGO hub in her town. —KBK, GMA Integrated News