A court in the Philippines on Thursday sentenced Alice Guo — the former mayor of Bamban located north of Manila — to life behind bars for human trafficking.

Guo, identified by law enforcement as Chinese national Guo Hua Ping, became mayor after posing as a Filipina and had been involved in running a Chinese-operated online gambling and scam outfit.

Sentence viewed as 'legal victory'

State prosecutor Olivia Torrevillas said in all, eight foreign nationals, including Guo, received life sentences.

"After over just one year, the court... gave us a favourable decision. Alice (Guo) was convicted along with seven other co-accused. Life imprisonment," Torrevillas said.

Local media reported that this amounted to 40 years in prison and a fine of 2 million Philippine pesos ($33,875).

"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.

The case against Guo

Hundreds of people were forced into running scams at a compound in Bamban in Central Luzon, or face torture.

The scam center was raided by authorities in March 2024 following a tip-off from a Vietnamese worker who had managed to escape.

This led to the discovery of more than 700 Filipinos, Chinese, Vietnamese, Malaysians, Taiwanese, Indonesians and Rwandans at the sprawling compound.

Also discovered were documents that allegedly revealed that Guo was president of a company that owned the compound.

Guo was arrested by Indonesian police in September 2024 after she went on the run from Filipino authorities.

Southeast Asia has seen a multitude of cybercrime operations spring up, involving thousands of scammers.

According to UN figures, in 2023, people in the region were conned out of around $37 billion (€32.1 billion).

Edited by: Elizabeth Schumacher