BI Still Clueless on Alice Guo Escape Details

Almost seven months after dismissed Bamban mayor and suspected Chinese spy Alice Guo escaped to Indonesia, immigration officials are still clueless about how she left the Philippines to evade an arrest order of the Senate.

- CECILLE SUERTE FELIPE

At yesterday's Senate hearing, Sen. Risa Hontiveros expressed frustration with the Bureau of Immigration (BI)'s dismal performance in figuring out the details of Guo's escape in August last year.

“We are inutile as a country. It’s been four months and we still don’t know how fugitives got past our borders undetected,” Hontiveros lamented.

BI Intelligence Division chief Fortunato Manahan Jr. agreed with the senator.

Ports or sub-ports used by Guo and her siblings to escape also remain unknown, Manahan said.

“How did they manage to escape? Or was there a government official who helped them? Which port or coast of our archipelago did they flee from?” Hontiveros asked.

Counterparts of the BI across Asia have not replied to inquiries about the Guo siblings’ escape, Manahan said.

“We will check with the office of the commissioner if any reports have been submitted from November to this year,” he said.

No BI personnel helped Guo escape, Immigration Commissioner Joel Anthony Viado said.