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.



The raid uncovered hundreds of trafficked workers including foreign nationals, resulting in a human trafficking complaint against Guo from PAOCC.