Dismissed Mayor Alice Guo. Screen grab from Senate hearing 

MANILA, Philippines – Charges continue to pile up for dismissed Bamban town Mayor Alice Guo who is set to face an additional 62 counts of money laundering cases to be filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) very soon. 

The cases recommended for filing against Guo and 30 others are: 

1. 26 counts of money laundering under Section 4A of the Anti Money Laundering Act pertaining to transaction of monetary instruments that were illegally that were illegal proceeds of an unlawful activity.

2. 5 counts of money laundering under Section 4B of the Anti Money Laundering Act pertaining to the conversion and the transfer or the disposition or movement of monetary instruments that were found to be illegal proceeds of an unlawful activity. 

3. 31 counts of violation of Section 4D of the Anti Money Laundering Act filed against Guo, her purported father Jian Zhong Guo, her purported mother Lin Wenyi, and her siblings Shiela Guo and Seimen Guo for supposedly conspiring with each other to commit money laundering.

The rest of the respondents include: 

• Huang Zhiyang, the alleged “boss of all bosses” of illegal POGOs; 
• Former Technology and Livelihood Resource Center deputy director general Dennis Cunanan; 
• Baoying Lin; 
• Ruijin Zhang; 
• Walter Wong; 
• Jack U;
• Rachel Carreon; 
• Thelma Laranan; 
• Rowena Evangelista; 
• Rita Yturralde; 
• Merlie Castro; 
• Yu Zheng Can; 
• Mariela Tulio; 
• Jaimielyn Cruz; 
• Roderick Pujante; 
• Juan Alpas; 
• Bernard Chua Chua; 
• Wuli Dong; 
• Wang Weili Nong Ding Chang; 
• Lang Xu Po; Ma Pong, 
• Huang Yue Hai; 
• Shicong Zhang, 
• Ma Tram;  
• Maybeline Millo

According to Justice Assistant Secretary Mico Clavano, the basis for the cases to be filed were the illegal activities discovered during raid operations in POGO facilities in Bamban, Tarlac. 

“Love scam or crypto scam as a result, that’s where they profited, ‘yan po ang sinasabi ng resolution. Dun po sila nagkapera at ginamit po ‘yung pera na ‘yun para pambili po na iba’t – ibang mga assets,” Clavano said. 

Some cases however were dismissed because of failure to produce substantive prima facie evidence coupled with reasonable certainty of conviction. 

Giving Guo a bit of relief is the dismissal of a one money laundering complaint against her under Section 4C pertaining to the concealment or the disguise of the true nature of the source of funds. 

Also recommended to be dismissed is the complaint under Sec. 4E pertaining to the aiding and abetting or assisting in s the commission of money laundering offenses against  Guo, former accountant Nancy Gamo and Cassy Li Ong. 

“Speaks to the reforms of the department dahil hindi natin i-fi-file ang isang kaso kung hindi tayo sigurado na mananalo tayo sa korte,” Clavano said. 

Guo is embroiled in a mesh of legal mess with multiple cases initially filed against her including qualified trafficking before a Pasig court, a graft case before a Valenzuela court and a material misrepresentation case before a Tarlac court.

A quo warranto petition was also filed against Guo with a Manila court as well as a petition to cancel her birth certificate before a Tarlac court.

The Bureau of Internal Revenue also filed raps against Guo over her failure to pay capital gains in the transfer of her shares in Baofu Land Development Inc., the property developer owning land where POGO companies’ Hongsheng Gaming and Zun Yuan Technology Inc. are located. 

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