Former “mayor” condemned in landmark human-trafficking ruling
Alice Guo, a Chinese national who posed as a Filipino and served as mayor of Bamban in Tarlac province from June 2022 to August 2024, was sentenced on 20 November 2025 to life imprisonment on human-trafficking charges. She is one of eight people convicted by a Philippine court for supervising an illicit online-scam and trafficking compound near her municipal office. According to the prosecutor, Guo and three others were found guilty of “organising trafficking”, with four additional defendants convicted for “acts of trafficking”.
How the scheme operated
Investigators said that a sprawling compound owned by Guo’s firm — dubbed the “Baofu Land Development” complex — housed over 700 workers from the Philippines, China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan, Indonesia and Rwanda who were forced to run online scams and illegal gambling operations.
The centre was raided in March 2024 after a Vietnamese worker escaped and alerted authorities. Once inside, law-enforcement discovered “love-scam scripts, firearms and mobile phones used for scam transactions”, capitalising on overseas victims.
Doubts about identity and public office
Guo was elected as mayor of Bamban in 2022 — despite investigators later determining she had falsified credentials and assumed a Filipino identity despite being born in Fujian, China. In June 2025, a Manila court declared her election null and void and formally identified her as Chinese national Guo Hua Ping. Her term was marked by lavish lifestyle displays: helicopters painted pink, luxury vehicles and real-estate holdings. Simultaneously, her presence near a Philippine military base and the trafficking claims stirred concerns of espionage and organised crime.
Legal consequences and broader implications
Alongside the life sentence, Guo was fined ₂₱2 million (approx. USD 34,000) and ordered to pay restitution for the victims of trafficking. Philippine officials hailed the verdict as a “moral victory” in the fight against transnational organised crime, scams and human-trafficking-linked gambling operations. Senator Risa Hontiveros said the case is “not only about fraud but infiltration of our communities by foreign fake operators”.
Why this case matters
- It sheds light on the so-called “POGO” (Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator) links to human-trafficking and scam networks operating with low oversight.
- It underscores challenges in local governance, identity verification and vulnerabilities to foreign influence in relatively remote municipalities.
- It may prompt stronger regulatory frameworks in the Philippines on online gaming, labour trafficking and foreign citizenship checks for public office.
What to watch next
- Whether further prosecutions will follow for Guo’s co-defendants on charges of money-laundering, espionage or corruption.
- The fate and repatriation or compensation for the hundreds of workers rescued from the compound.
- Repercussions on local elections: how municipalities will vet future candidates for citizenship and integrity.
- Impact on diplomatic ties between the Philippines and China, especially potential tensions over the allegations of espionage and foreign interference.
The takeaway
Alice Guo’s conviction is a striking example of how a figure cloaked in political office and local goodwill can preside over a serious criminal enterprise. Her fall from mayor to convict reveals a troubling intersection of scam factories, trafficking and public governance. The life sentence marks a strong message: abuses hidden behind local titles will be exposed, and transnational crime networks face stiff consequences.
