Mandaluyong women’s jail ready for Alice Guo
The Pasig City Regional Trial Court on Thursday ordered the detention of dismissed Bamban, Tarlac, Mayor Alice Guo at the Correctional Institution for Women (CIW) in Mandaluyong City, after it found her guilty of qualified human trafficking last week and sentenced her to life imprisonment.
Also ordered committed to the women’s prison facility were Guo’s coaccused—Jaimielyn Santos Cruz, the alleged president of Zun Yuan Technology Inc., which operated a Philippine offshore gaming operator (Pogo) hub in Bamban town; and Rachelle Joan Malonzo Carreon.
“The court hereby commits to your lawful custody and care accused Alice Leal Guo, Rachelle Joan Malonzo Carreon, and Jaimielyn Santos Cruz,” Presiding Judge Annielyn Medes-Cabelis of Pasig RTC Branch 167 said in her mittimus (commitment order).
Bureau of Corrections Director General Gregorio Pio Catapang Jr. said that security measures were already in place for the smooth transfer of Guo and her cohorts to the prison facility.
CIW head Technical Superintendent Marjorie Ann Sanidan said that upon their arrival, the three women would undergo the five-day protocol quarantine at the Reception and Diagnostic Center (RDC) for newly committed persons deprived of liberty.
60-day stay
They will be subjected to medical tests before they are transferred to the regular RDC dormitory, where they will undergo mandatory orientation, diagnostics and qualification for 60 days. The trio will then be moved to their assigned regular dormitory at the prison facility’s maximum security camp.
On Nov. 20, the Pasig court found Guo guilty beyond reasonable doubt for qualified trafficking and ordered her and her coaccused to pay a P2 million fine each and compensate several trafficking victims who filed the complaints against them.
Cruz and Carreon were among those convicted for organizing trafficking activities inside the Baofu Land Development Inc. compound in Bamban, Tarlac, where the Pogo hub was located. The Pogo hub was raided last year for human trafficking and online scamming activities.
The court ruling detailed how Guo, along with three coaccused who remain at large, organized and financed Baofu, then directed others to engage in forced labor in their online scamming business at the Pogo hub.
In June, a Manila court disqualified Guo from holding a government post after declaring her “undoubtedly a Chinese citizen” based on fingerprint evidence. She has, however, insisted that she is a Filipino citizen.
