Pogos could be sponsoring candidates for 2025 polls – Villanueva

Dismissed Bamban Mayor Alice Leal Guo (Senate Public Relations and Information Bureau)

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine offshore gaming operators (Pogos) could be sponsoring candidates for the 2025 elections, Sen. Joel Villanueva warned on Tuesday.

During the Senate panel on women’s 15th hearing on dismissed Bamban Mayor Alice Guo’s Pogo ties, Villanueva said “Pogo politics represents a new form of corruption, where candidates for the 2025 elections could be sponsored by Pogos.”

His remarks came after Guo’s camp confirmed that the dismissed mayor will seek reelection.

READ: Alice Guo to run for mayor in 2025 polls – legal counsel

“This would be a mockery of our laws, especially considering that the Office of the Ombudsman has determined she is perpetually disqualified from holding any government position,” Villanueva said.

He also said the Senate would not accept such a move and urged the Commission on Elections to immediately junk Guo’s certificate of candidacy should she file one.

In the same hearing, Chinese national Wang Fu Gui, who dubbed himself as a close friend and former cellmate of self-confessed Chinese spy She Zhijiang, disclosed that Guo’s 2022 mayoral bid was arranged by Chinese state security.

Guo has been the subject of scrutiny after the Senate panel on women bared her ties to illegal Pogo firm Zun Yuan Technology Inc.

Questions about her citizenship were also raised, leading to allegations that she is a Chinese spy which she vehemently denied.

The National Bureau of Investigation, however, earlier confirmed that she and Chinese national Guo Hua Ping are one.

READ: Alice Guo arrested in Indonesia – DOJ, NBI