Ex-Philippine mayor Alice Guo given life sentence for human trafficking

A Philippine trial court has sentenced a former mayor accused of having ties to Chinese criminal syndicates to life imprisonment after finding her guilty of human trafficking, a government anti-crime agency said on Thursday.
Alice Guo ran for mayor in Bamban, an agricultural town north of the capital Manila, as a Filipino citizen, but she was later identified by law enforcement as Chinese national Guo Hua Ping.
“This eagerly awaited ruling is not only a legal victory but also a moral one. It delivers justice to victims, reaffirms the government’s united stance against organised crime,” the Presidential Anti-Organised Crime Commission (PAOCC) said in a statement.
Guo’s lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Guo has previously denied links to criminals and has also maintained that she is a natural-born Philippine citizen.
The Philippine Senate launched a congressional probe into Guo in May last year, two months after a police raid revealed a scam centre operating out of a facility built on land partially owned by Guo. It was one of many such centres to spring up across Southeast Asia in recent years.