A Philippine court has sentenced former Bamban Mayor Alice Guo identified as a Chinese national who had posed as a Filipina to life imprisonment on human trafficking charges. The ruling, delivered on Thursday in Manila, also handed life sentences to seven co-accused linked to a large-scale criminal enterprise.
Guo was found guilty of managing a Chinese-run online gambling and scam operation north of Manila, where hundreds of workers were reportedly forced to carry out fraudulent activities under the threat of violence. The operation was uncovered in March 2024 when a Vietnamese worker escaped the compound and alerted authorities. Police later discovered a vast complex comprising office blocks, luxury residences, and recreational facilities, along with documentation allegedly tying Guo to the ownership entity behind the site.
State prosecutor Olivia Torrevillas confirmed the sentencing, noting that all eight defendants faced life in prison. She refrained from naming the other individuals due to confidentiality restrictions. According to the Philippine Anti-Organized Crime Commission, Guo and three associates were convicted of organising human trafficking, while four others were found guilty of engaging directly in trafficking activities.
Guo, 35, was arrested in Indonesia in September 2024 after fleeing the Philippines. Earlier that year, a Manila court ruled she had never been eligible to serve as mayor, determining that she was a Chinese citizen despite having assumed a Filipino identity.
The case has intensified scrutiny of transnational scam networks, which have rapidly expanded across Southeast Asia. A 2023 UN report estimated regional victims lost up to $37 billion, with global financial damage believed to be significantly higher.
The scam industry saw considerable growth in the Philippines during former president Rodrigo Duterte’s tenure, following regulatory changes allowing nationwide licensing of offshore gambling operations. However, in 2024, President Ferdinand Marcos ordered a comprehensive ban on such activities and instructed all foreign nationals working in these establishments to leave the country amid growing public outrage over the Guo scandal.
