Marcos warns 'heads will roll' after ex-mayor flees Philippines

He blasts officials who let politician linked to Chinese criminal syndicates escape

- Mara Cepeda

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said the government will go after the "culprits" responsible for the escape of a former town mayor who is being investigated for her alleged ties to Chinese criminal syndicates.

"Let me be clear: Heads will roll," Mr Marcos said on social media platform X on Aug 21.

The President's stern statement came two days after a Philippine Senate investigation revealed that dismissed Bamban mayor Alice Guo, also identified as Chinese national Guo Hua Ping, had somehow managed to leave the country.

This is despite an immigration lookout bulletin order issued by the Department of Justice (DOJ) that requires the authorities to closely monitor her movements.

Guo is facing a Senate arrest warrant for snubbing the hearings probing her alleged ties to a nowshutdown online casino that was allegedly being used as a front for scamming operations and other criminal activities.

The hub, closed by the government in March, was built on land partially owned by the disgraced politician in the sleepy farming town of Bamban, some 99km north of the capital Manila, in Tarlac province.

During a hearing on Aug 19, Senator Risa Hontiveros, who has been leading the investigation into Guo, first publicised immigration documents showing that the embattled politician arrived in Malaysia on July 18, then travelled to Singapore on July 21.

Hours later, a spokesman for the Presidential Anti-Organised Crime Commission (PAOCC) corroborated Ms Hontiveros' findings, saying that Guo later took a ferry from Singapore to travel to Indonesia on Aug 18.

PAOCC spokesman Winston Casio told local radio station TeleRadyo Serbisyo that the authorities can pursue Guo either through extradition or an Interpol red notice.