Ports of exit

Even under arrest in Manila, Alice Guo continues to embarrass the government.

Guo’s supposed half-sister Shiela suffered from selective amnesia when grilled by senators about the port of departure for the “small white boat” that brought them to the high seas.

Alice Guo, on the other hand, has a clearer recollection. She told the Senate last Monday that it was a yacht, which they boarded not in some remote coastal community, but right in the city of Manila. She wasn’t sure, Alice said, if it was the North or South Harbor.

Whether North or South, that’s the busiest port in the Philippines. The main office of the Bureau of Immigration is in Intramuros, adjacent to Manila’s Port Area. There’s supposed to be a BI presence at the South Harbor’s Pier 15, since it functions as an international cruise port.

The Manila port is where the first two COVID patients in the Philippines – a Chinese couple who came straight from ground zero, Wuhan City, but passed through Hong Kong – disembarked after their health deteriorated while on a cruise around the Philippines. The man became the first COVID fatality in our country and outside China.

Manila’s Port Area teems with government presence. The district is home to the main office or headquarters of the Bureau of Customs, Philippine Ports Authority, Maritime Industry Authority, Bureau of Quarantine and the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG).

A few kilometers south is the headquarters of the Philippine Navy. Beside this is the Manila Yacht Club. Did the Guo “siblings” take the yacht from there? Manila Bay opens into the West Philippine Sea. Are private yachts free to come and go from any point in the bay, including Metro Manila?

Yes, according to PCG chief Adm. Ronnie Gil Gavan. He told the Senate hearing yesterday on the budget of the Department of Transportation, which has jurisdiction over the PCG, that “non-common carriers” such as yachts are not subjected to PCG pre-departure inspection.

Unless Alice Guo traveled in disguise, she would have been easily recognized; her face has been all over the news for some time now. There was an immigration lookout bulletin for her when she and her siblings boarded that yacht. Are ILBs not shared with maritime and PCG authorities?

Some quarters are speculating that Alice Guo is lying (as usual) and that she and her companions actually boarded the “small white boat” in Sual, Pangasinan, where the mayor (according to Sen. Jinggoy Estrada) is her boyfriend.

The mayor, Liseldo Calugay, has so far managed to avoid facing the Senate; he is on medical leave reportedly after catching dengue. Guo has denied any romantic ties between them, saying the mayor is simply her “friend.”

BI officials insist that there is no record in their agency of Guo’s exit from the country.

Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla had fumed that the BI knew about the Guos’ departure, but withheld the information from him. BI officials said it took time for them to confirm the information.

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This is one of the reasons for the unceremonious sacking of Norman Tansingco as BI commissioner.

Broad hints were dropped when President Marcos, in a rare public display of irritation, vowed that “heads will roll” for the embarrassing escape of Guo. All eyes were focused on the BI since BBM mentioned “immigration,” although there was no certainty that Tansingco, a Marcos appointee, would be included.

As told by Tansingco himself, he learned about his sacking only from the media, while he was facing the Senate probe on Guo and Philippine offshore gaming operations.

It’s likely that Tansingco shares the views of BI spokesperson Dana Sandoval on the challenges faced by the bureau.

Sandoval told “Storycon” on One News last Wednesday that the BI couldn’t do it alone; a “whole of government approach” is needed to sufficiently police possible points of entry and exit in the Philippines.

She said the BI was working to find out if any of its personnel colluded in the escape of the Guo siblings.

Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission executive director Gilbert Cruz shared Sandoval’s concern about porous coastal communities in an archipelago of about 7,640 islands.

Cruz told Storycon last Thursday that even private resort owners can set up ports for small vessels in their property. Local governments can do the same.

A seaport refers to a manmade facility where seagoing craft can dock, unload passengers and freight or set sail. A coastal area for use as a port is typically cleared of obstructions in the sea such as large rocks, for smooth movement of boats.

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All ports must be registered with the Philippine Ports Authority, but this requirement is largely ignored in small operations, especially in private property, Cruz told us.

The absence of government presence in these makeshift ports allows their use for illegal activities such as human trafficking and smuggling. Cruz, a former member of the Dangerous Drugs Board, said such ports are widely used for drug trafficking.

If people and contraband can freely enter such ports, they can also leave easily.

Despite Guo’s Senate testimony, authorities are still trying to determine if she might have left the country through Sual or a port in Bulacan.

The BI can’t be in all the coastal areas of the country; there are simply too many islands. But there is government presence all over the archipelago, through the smallest unit, the barangay.

Instead of focusing on more ways of raising barangay funds, creating more layers of red tape and making life hell for entrepreneurs, barangay officials can make themselves useful by improving policing of coastal areas. Local government executives can spur the barangays to do this.

The problem that instantly comes to mind is if LGU and barangay officials themselves are accepting fees to look the other way, or worse, are directly involved in illegal activities.

In the case of Alice Guo, if she and her companions really left the country through the Port of Manila, some folks must have looked the other way, and are now looking forward to a prosperous Christmas.