DOJ, DFA: No official Indonesia request for prisoner swap

MANILA, Philippines — There is no official request from Indonesia for swapping Alice Guo with an Australian drug kingpin and long-time fugitive from Jakarta who was arrested in Cebu last May, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said yesterday.

DOJ spokesman Mico Clavano said an official communication regarding the matter would have to go through the Department of Foreign Affairs.

DFA Secretary Enrique Manalo told The STAR last night that he is “not aware” of any such request.

Manalo, however, thanked Indonesia through its ambassador in Manila for the assistance in the arrest of Guo. Manalo, who attended Indonesia’s 79th National Day celebration at the Dusit Thani, said he ordered the Philippine embassy in Jakarta to assist the Philippine officials  who flew to Indonesia to pick up Guo.

Clavano said it was only from Indonesian media where the DFA learned of a purported request from Jakarta to trade Guo, a dismissed Tarlac town mayor, with Australian drug suspect Gregor Johann Haas. Drug trafficking is punishable by death in Indonesia. The Bureau of Immigration (BI) arrested Haas on May 15 in Bogo, Cebu.

“It’s very premature to even talk about this because we haven’t yet received official request,” Clavano told reporters.

BI spokesperson Dana Sandoval said “there is nothing on the table” for a possible custody trade-off.

“Personally, I have no knowledge. (I) will get information on the ground, but I have not heard of anything like this on the table,” Sandoval said in an interview on GMA 7.

She added that the bureau does not practice exchanging detainees, as it follows only mandated deportation proceedings. She stressed they have good communication with their counterparts in Indonesia.

“They have been very, very helpful and they pledged that they would finish this and deport mayor Alice Guo and even her brother Wesley, whose movements they are also monitoring and whom they also want to deport back to the Philippines,” Sandoval pointed out.

Sandoval also said they fully support President Marcos’ order for an investigation on the possible involvement of some officials of BI and other agencies as well as private individuals in the escape of Guo, who turned out be a Chinese national named Guo Hua Ping.

“The BI also has its own ongoing investigation and we support the President, in the interest of the national government to apprehend whoever assisted mayor Alice Guo,” she said.

“We also think that it is impossible that nobody helped her flee from the country because what she did was very hard and challenging logistically if we would base it on the testimony of Shiela Guo that there was a private resort that accommodated them, booked three boats or to look for different boats. To be able to do this you have to talk to several people, so it is possible that there were people who helped them,” she added.

Quick deportation seen

Guo was arrested by the Indonesian police in Jakarta at around 1:30 a.m. on Sept. 4.

Clavano said Guo will also face charges for violation of immigration rules as well as for disobeying summons.

He also said Shiela Guo, who already had admitted not being a sister of the former Bamban mayor, would not be freed from government custody even after the conclusion of Senate hearings, as she was also deemed to have violated immigration laws for having a fraudulently acquired Philippine passport. Shiela turned out to be a Chinese national named Zhang Mier.

“She (Shiela) will be held in the legal custody of the BI. She’ll be transferred,” he said.

BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco, for his part, thanked the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) for dispelling insinuations that Guo was aided by unscrupulous BI officials or personnel in her escape to Indonesia.

Tansingco was reacting to PAOCC spokesman Winston Casio’s statement that there was so far nothing to indicate that BI officials or personnel were involved in Guo’s escape.

“We have not found any evidence either way with regards to any possible liability as far as the Bureau of Immigration is concerned,” the BI quoted Casio as saying.

Meanwhile, Indonesian Ambassador Agus Widjojo said the Philippines sought the guidance of Indonesia for the arrest of Alice Guo or Guo Hua Ping only on technicalities and not on actual operations.

“Not the operations itself, not before the arrest but after the arrest, it was yesterday (Wednesday). The embassy sought guidance only on the technicalities of it,” Widjojo said in a television interview.

Widjojo said Interior and Local Government Secretary Benhur Abalos and Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Rommel Marbil arrived in Jakarta yesterday to discuss with Indonesian authorities arrangements for the turnover and deportation of Guo to the Philippines.

Indonesian authorities took custody of Guo after her arrest in Tangerang City before midnight on Tuesday.

“Philippine officials are already in Jakarta to have discussions and talks with the Indonesian side. And it’s led by the Secretary of the DILG and also the chief of the PNP. They have just arrived and today I think they will start their talks with Indonesian authorities,” Widjojo said.

He said Philippine officials arrived in Jakarta on Wednesday to “prepare the ground” for discussions on Guo.

“There were communications between the Indonesian embassy and the Philippine institutions especially the highest rank, the secretary of the DILG,” he added.

The ambassador did not confirm a request from Indonesia to exchange Guo with an Australian drug suspect in Philippine custody. –  Pia Lee-Brago, Marichu Villanueva