MANILA, Philippines — Senators expressed their disapproval after several officials, tasked with apprehending Alice Guo in Indonesia, were seen taking photos with the former mayor.
Several photos of a beaming Guo and officials from the National Bureau of Investigation went viral, with Guo seemingly unbothered by the money laundering and human trafficking charges filed against her.
Particularly, Interior Secretary Benjamin Abalos and Philippine National Police Chief General Rommel Marbil were seen in a photo with a smiling Guo.
“We want answers, not a photoshoot. Alice Guo, the fake Filipino, has a lot of explaining to do,” Sen. Risa Hontiveros said in a Facebook post on Friday.
Hontiveros has spent several, painstaking months cracking down on Guo and her alleged ties to POGOs.
The Senate investigation has shed light on an apparent web of criminal activities that also implicated several government agencies. What seemed like a case of a local mayor involved in corruption has spiraled into a national security concern, with a foreign national being able to secure a position in government on a fake identity.
“The arrest of a fugitive wanted for several complaints of human trafficking, money laundering. , fake identity, gross misconduct, illegal recruitment and detention, and corruption should not be made into a social event,” Hontiveros said in Filipino.
Other senators also expressed their disappointment.
“Seriously, do you want to take a picture with this treacherous fugitive!” Sen. Joel Villanueva said in a message on Thursday night.
Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, one of the senators who led the questioning on POGOs during the Senate probe, also criticized the lack of decorum.
“Ang ating kawani ng gobyerno ay dapat mag exercise ng professionalism at proper decorum at all times. Dapat tandaan nila, pugante ito, tumakas ito. At nahuli ng Indonesian government, hindi tayo yung nakahuli nito,” Gatchalian said on DWIZ.
(Government officials must exercise professionalism and proper decorum at all times. They should remember, this is a fugitive. It was the Indonesian government that captured her, not us.)
Gatchalian said that if the issue was not publicized by the media, Guo would not even be found. He added that Guo should be brought back to the Philippines like any other criminal would, without ant special treatment.