A former Philippine mayor accused of spying for China is seeking re-election next year, The Independent reports.
Alice Guo, the former mayor of Bambang City, is currently being held in Pasig City Jail after she was extradited from Jakarta, Indonesia, in September.
Ms. Guo, also known as Chinese national Guo Hua Ping, was wanted by the Philippine Senate for refusing to appear before a congressional investigation into her alleged criminal links to Chinese crime syndicates and money laundering.
Ms. Guo, 34, who claims to be a natural-born citizen of the Philippines, has denied the charges, calling them “malicious.” Her lawyer Stephen David told reporters on Friday that she would formalise her candidacy for mayor on October 8, the last day to file nomination papers. He also said:
Definitely, she will be running for mayor. It would be better if she runs so we can find out if the people still love her, because right now there’s a lot of negative publicity, but many also sympathise.
He also added Ms. Guo was confident of her victory because “so many people are rooting for her.”
Runaway mayor
In August, Philippine authorities filed several money laundering charges against Ms Guo and her associates. She fled the country in July, travelling to Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia on her Philippine passport, the Philippine Anti-Crime Agency said.
The former mayor and her two alleged brothers fled the Philippines by boat to Malaysia, Sheila Guo, an alleged accomplice arrested earlier in Indonesia, told a Senate hearing.
Ms. Guo was running for mayor of Bambang, an agricultural town north of the capital, as a Philippine citizen in 2022.
The Philippine Senate began investigating Ms. Guo in May, two months after authorities raided a gambling centre catering to offshore customers, mostly Chinese. The raid uncovered what the authorities described as online fraud at a premises built on land partly owned by Ms. Guo.
Ms. Guo refused to appear at a follow-up hearing in June, citing emotional trauma from a previous attendance at the hearing. As a result, the Senate charged her with contempt of court and ordered her arrest. In August, the Philippine Anti-Corruption Authority removed her as mayor, citing serious misconduct for her alleged links to illegal gambling operations in Bamban.
