Similar to the story of dismissed Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo, a victim of illegal recruitment bared in a Senate hearing how they exited the Philippines through a series of boat rides.
During the hearing of the Senate Committee on Public Services chaired by Senator Raffy Tulfo, he presented a complainant only identified as "Karen" who fell victim to illegal recruitment and was able to get to Malaysia via a series of boat rides like how the Guos claimed to have escaped the country.
Tulfo's hearing centered on the deficiencies in the operational procedures conducted by the seaports and airports.
While there's no firm conclusion yet on how the Guos fled the country, Karen's story showed that if Guo's claim was true, it is possible.
According to Karen, they traveled first on a plane to Zamboanga. They flew again from Zamboanga to Tawi-Tawi. From Tawi-tawi, they rode a tricycle to an "old Chinese port" or the Bongao Port.
At this point, Tulfo asked the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) through Capt. Oliver Tanseco, PCG-Commander, Coast Guard Investigation, and Detection Management Service if they have men stationed there. Tanseco said they have men in commercial ports handling passengers and cargo.
Karen said that from this port, they rode a pump boat together with 40 to 60 people, with no life vests, which according to her was not inspected by PCG.
Tulfo asked Tanseco to tell the PCG commander in Tawi-tawi to patrol and monitor the Bongao port.
"Kapag may narinig pa po ako ulit, na complaint na isang mga kababayan natin na dumaan diyan at hindi naharang ng Coast Guard...babalikan ko kayo, sir (If I hear another complaint from the public that they passed through there without being checked by the Coast Guard...I'll go back to you, sir)," he told Tanseco.
Tanseco stated they would conduct a thorough investigation among the PCG to find out who was responsible for negligence and to know who the owners of the pump boat that was allowed to sail.
Sailing from Bongao, Karen said that after two hours, they arrived at the Municipality of Sitangkai still in Tawi-tawi, where they transferred to another boat. A photo was flashed during the hearing which showed that the boat was filled with luggage.
While on this boat, Karen said that they went deep into Sitangkai to look for the contact person of their recruiter. They stayed at the contact's place until 10 p.m. before leaving another boat. After an hour they stayed at a floating house where they stayed for more than two hours before leaving again on a different boat that brought them to Semporna in Sabah, Malaysia.
In Alice's version of the story, she said that they rode the yacht for a few hours and transferred to a bigger boat but she doesn’t know the exact location where they made the transfer because it was still dark.
Upon transferring to a bigger boat, the former mayor said they stayed in one room for about three to five days but they were not allowed to go out.
She also could not provide the exact location in Malaysia where they entered because they were not instructed not to look around. During a Senate hearing last August 27, her sibling Shiela testified that they—together with Alice and Wesley Guo, left the Philippines by riding several boats.
According to Shiela, the three of them were fetched by a van from their van in Tarlac and traveled southbound around dinner time to midnight. Shiela said they boarded at least three boats, a small white boat, transferred to a bigger boat, and then rode another small boat before arriving in Malaysia.
In a privileged speech, Tulfo raised the bigger issue of the backdoor problem and immigration crisis that the country currently faces.
"As we speak, there are hundreds more like these aspiring OFWs being preyed upon by disgusting scammers and human traffickers," he said.
He also stated that the Senate Committee on Migrant Workers would like to look into this illegal recruitment and human trafficking scheme and the Committee on Public Service, will also review the regulation of the country's air and marine transportation, particularly those used for transnational crimes.