Philippines mayor extradited over accusations of being Chinese spy wants to run for re-election

Alice Guo confident of winning the 2025 re-elections, says lawyer

A former Philippines mayor accused of spying for China wants to run for re-election next year, her lawyer said.

Alice Guo, the former mayor of Bamban, is currently detained at the Pasig City Jail, after being extradited from Jakarta in 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 the alleged criminal ties to Chinese criminal syndicates and money laundering.

Ms Guo, 34, who claims to be a natural-born citizen of the Philippines, denied the accusations, calling them “malicious”.

Ms Guo's lawyer Stephen David told reporters on Friday that she would formalise the mayoral bid on 8 October on the last day of filing for candidature. "Definitely, she will be running for mayor,” he said.

FILE PHOTO: Alice Guo, also known as Chinese national Guo Hua Ping, a fugitive former mayor of Bamban, Tarlac province attends a Senate hearing in Pasay City, Metro Manila, Philippines, 9 September 2024 (REUTERS)

"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," Mr David was quoted by Inquirer.net as saying.

He said Ms Guo was confident about her victory because "there are so many [people] rooting for her".

Philippine authorities filed several counts of money laundering against Ms Guo and her associates in August. She fled the country in July, traveling to Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia using her Philippine passport, the Philippines anti-crime agency said.

The former mayor and her two supposed siblings fled the Philippines by boat to Malaysia, Sheila Guo, an alleged accomplice who was arrested earlier in Indonesia, told a senate hearing.

Ms Guo ran for mayor of Bamban, an agricultural town north of the capital, as a Philippine citizen in 2022.

The Philippine senate opened a congressional probe into Ms Guo in May, two months after authorities raided a gambling hub catering to offshore clients who are mostly Chinese. The raid uncovered what authorities described as online scams inside a facility built on land that Ms Guo partially owned.

Ms Guo refused to appear at subsequent hearings in June, citing emotional trauma from her previous attendance. That led the senate to cite her in contempt and ordered her arrest.

The Philippines' anti-graft office removed her as mayor in August citing grave misconduct over her alleged ties to illegal gaming operations in Bamban.

Additional reporting by agencies