Police search for mayor accused of being a Chinese spy

The mayor of a small town in the Philippines who was accused of being a Chinese spy has gone into hiding, officials said.

The police could not execute an arrest warrant for Alice Guo over the weekend, as she could not be found at any of her known addresses.

In March, fraud centers hidden in online casinos targeting mainland Chinese were uncovered in Ms. Guo’s town of Bamban.

Her story played out like a television drama, as she was also questioned about her Chinese ancestry and suspicions arose that she was working as an “agent” or spy for Beijing.

Ms Guo’s case is gripping the nation as Manila and Beijing continue to quarrel over reefs and rocky outcrops in the South China Sea.

The Senate ordered the arrest of Ms. Guo and several members of her family last Friday after she twice ignored subpoenas for hearings on the fraud centers.

“Show yourself. Hiding will not erase the truth,” Senator Risa Hontiveros, who is leading the parliamentary inquiry into Ms Guo, said in a statement.

Ms. Guo denies any wrongdoing, claiming her Chinese father and Filipino mother raised her on their pig farm.

But Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, who is involved in the investigation, claims Ms. Guo is a Chinese citizen whose real name, according to immigration records, is Guo Hua Ping.

“She is hiding to avoid arrest,” Gatchalian told local radio. “Our tracking teams will continue to search for her.”

On the day the arrest warrant was signed, Ms. Guo posted a statement on Facebook addressing her constituents and alluding to the fact that she would no longer be present.

“I am sorry I cannot be physically present with each of you. I miss you all,” she said, adding that her absence would be “temporary.”

In the post, she added that she does not regret entering politics, even though it hurt her so much that she “almost lost myself.”

“I am a Filipina with a big heart for Bamban. I love the Philippines very much,” she said.

Ms Guo’s lawyer, Nicole Jamilla, told local television that her client would “definitely” cooperate with the official investigation.

Aside from the Senate investigation, Ms Guo is the subject of a separate corruption investigation that led to her suspension.

The Bamban scam centers have highlighted how online casinos or Pogos (Philippine Online Gaming Operations) have been used as a cover for SMS scams, human trafficking and other criminal activities.

There are even criminal rings hiding among the Pogos that build hospitals where fugitives who want a new face can undergo cosmetic surgery.

Pogos flourished during the administration of Rodrigo Duterte, whose presidency, which ended in 2022, was marked by close ties with China.

But under current President Ferdinand Marcos, the Pogos have come under scrutiny.

If it turns out that she is a Chinese citizen, Ms. Guo would no longer be eligible to run for mayor. Only Filipino citizens are allowed to hold elected office.

But that doesn’t matter to her voters, who benefit from her social assistance programs, which she documents in detail on her social media pages.

Ms Guo has brought “change” to Bamban and people are grateful, local resident Erica Miclat told ANC television.