President Marcos did not seem to mind the selfies taken by government officials with arrested former Bamban, Tarlac mayor Alice Guo, saying taking pictures has been the new normal for everybody on any occasion.

Marcos said this after Philippine law enforcement agents went under fire for taking selfies with the dismissed local chief executive when they were supposed to just escort her when she was turned over by Indonesian authorities to their Filipino counterparts.

In an interview on Friday, Sept. 6, the President shrugged off the incident as part of the "new culture."

"I think that is part of the new culture now na nagpapakuha lagi ng kahit ano kasi ipo-post nila— ‘Tingnan mo, oh, kasama ako sa team na umaresto sa ganyan, ganyan.' (that they will take photos, post them, and brag that they were part of the team who arrested this person)," he said.

"We are the Selfie Capital of the World, ‘di ba (right)? ‘Di nag-selfie. Hndi mo naman mapigilan ang tao na ngumiti (So they took a selfie. We cannot stop people from smiling anyway). So they just had a selfie. I don’t think there’s much more to it than that," he added.

Alice Guo was officially turned over by Indonesian authorities to the Philippines on Thursday, Sept. 5, following her arrest early this week. She arrived in the Philippines Friday past midnight.

However, Filipinos online chided the government officials who took selfies with the dismissed mayor and accused them of giving Guo special treatment. Some photos showed Guo with government agents all smiles inside a vehicle.

No prisoner swap

President Marcos clarified that reports alleging that Indonesia wanted to trade Guo with Australian Gregor Haas were unofficial. Haas is wanted in Indonesia for allegedly attempting to smuggle five kilograms of shabu into the country in 2023.

"Wala namang nag-swap (No swap happened)," he said.

"Lumabas sa isang article sa Indonesia na dapat mag-swap pero hindi official yun (There were articles in Indonesia saying there should be a swap but those were not official)," he added.

Haas, an alleged member of the infamous Sinaloa drug cartel, was arrested by the Bureau of Immigration (BI)'s fugitive search unit in Bogo City, Cebu on May 15, 2024.

Getting Guo back

However, Marcos explained that getting Guo back to the Philippines was not an easy task.

"It wasn’t simple at all. We were negotiating very intricate, very sensitive, and very delicate details for the last, what, maybe 48 hours," he said.

"Napakiusapan naman natin ang mga kaibigan natin sa Indonesia na pabayaan na ang Pilipinas na kunin na siya at iuwi na siya dito sa Pilipinas (We were able to appeal to our friends in Indonesia to let the Philippines take her back here)," he added.

The President thought his travels to Indonesia to build stronger ties with the country contributed to the Philippines being able to take Guo back. Marcos has been to Indonesia three times since 2022.

"Buti na lang marami tayong naging kaibigan na dahil sa pagpunta-punta ko sa mga iba’t ibang bansa (It's a good thing we made many friends because of international travels)," Marcos said.

"Naging malapit kami ni President Jokowi— naging bahagi yun kahit na hindi ganoon kasimple ang pag-transfer (We became close with Indonesian President Joko Widodo, that contributed even though it was not simple getting Guo back)," he added.

Answer the questions

Now that Alice Guo is back in the Philippines after nearly two months, President Marcos said Guo should now tell the truth about the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) in her locality.

"It (POGO) is basically a criminal enterprise. And as mayor, for her to say she did not know this was going on, it's very difficult to believe [that]," he said.

"It seems impossible that an operation that is, what?, a few hundred meters away from my own office, hindi ko alam yung nangyayari doon (I would not know what is happening there)? Sana maipaliwanag niya kung bakit hindi niya alam (I hope she could explain why she's unaware of it)," he added.

The Chief Executive likewise hoped that Guo would truthfully answer all questions without being evasive, unlike her supposed cohorts Casandra Ong and Sheila Guo.

"Paano siya yumaman nang ganyan, bakit ang dami-dami niyang pera, paano siya naging mayor na hindi naman siya kilala ng mga taga-doon (How did she get that rich, why does she have a lot of money, how did she became mayor when the people there didn't know her)?" Marcos said.

"Sana naman mabuti-buti ang sagot ni Alice Guo as compared doon sa mga kasamahan niya (I hope Alice Guo can give better accounts unlike her cohorts) because it will not help her at all to be evasive. Mas bibigat ang magiging problema niya kung hindi siya magsabi ng totoo (She will have a bigger problem if she will not tell the truth)," he added.