After issuing an immigration lookout bulletin order (ILBO), the Department of Justice (DOJ) said it will ask the court for a precautionary hold departure order (PHDO) against suspended Mayor Alice L. Guo and 17 others who had been charged in non-bailable qualified trafficking in persons complaint.
Once granted by the court, immigration officers can prevent Guo and her co-respondents from leaving the country while the DOJ is conducting preliminary investigation of the charges filed against them.
“Hihilingin na din ngayong linggo ng Kagawaran ang Preliminary Hold Departure Order (PHDO) mula sa Korte (the department will ask the court within the week to issue PHDO),” the DOJ said in a statement.
A PHDO is convertible to a hold departure order (HDO) once a case is filed with the court.
In its ILBO issued last June 21, placed under the watchlist of the Bureau of Immigration (BI) aside from Guo, also known as "Guo Hua Ping," are Dennis L. Cunanan, Zhang Jie, Zhang Ruijin, Baoying Lin, Rachelle Joan Malonzo Carreon, Huang Zhiyang, Thelma Barrogo Laranan, Rowena Gonzales Evangelista, Rita S. Yturralde, Merlie Joy Manalo Castro, Yu Zheng Can, Jaimelyn Santos Cruz, Roderick Paul B. Pujante,; Juan Miguel Alpas, Katherine Cassandra Li Ong, Wesley Guo, and Julian M. Linsangan III.
Last Friday, June 21, the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) and the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) filed before the DOJ a non-bailable qualified human trafficking complaint against Guo and several other persons including former Technology Resource Center (TRC) head Dennis L. Cunanan in connection with the illegal operations of the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) Zun Yuan Technology Center in Bamban town.
Mayo Guo and two other Bamban town officials had been placed under a six-month preventive suspension by the Office of the Ombudsman (OMB) on administrative charges filed by the Department of the Interior and Local Government over the operation of a Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO).
The OMB has denied Guo's motion to lift suspension.
In issuing the ILBO, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin C. Remulla said: “Sa bisa ng ILBO, ipinag-uutos sa Bureau of Immigration (BI) na bantayan ang bawat kilos ng mga ito, at ialerto ang mga kinauukulan sa anumang tangka na lumabas ng bansa (Under the ILBO, the BI has been directed to guard the movements of respondents and alert authorities on attempts to flee the country)."