'Chinese spy mayor' wanted by Philippines arrested

A former Philippine mayor who was on the run for weeks after being accused of spying for China has been arrested in Indonesia.

Philippine authorities have been pursuing Alice Guo across four countries even since she disappeared in July following an investigation into her alleged criminal activities.

She has been accused of protecting online casinos, which were a front for scam centres and human trafficking syndicates in her sleepy pig farming town, Bamban.

Ms Guo denies the allegations. Philippine officials said they were co-ordinating with their Indonesian counterparts for her return to the Philippines "at the soonest possible time".

The former mayor said she grew up on the family farm with her Chinese father and Filipina mother, but MPs who investigated the scam centre operations accused her of being a Chinese national named Guo Hua Ping, and a spy who provided cover for criminal gangs.

The dramatic nature of her case, which has since seen her sister arrested and question before by the Philippine Senate, sparked fury in the country and drew international attention.

Authorities believe that Guo slipped past border checks in July and took several boats, crossing neighbouring Malaysia and Singapore, on her way to Indonesia, where she was arrested on Tuesday on the western border of the capital Jakarta.

While online casinos or Philippine Online Gaming Operations are not illegal, they are increasingly being exposed as cover for other crimes.

The firms, which mostly cater to mainland Chinese clients, flourished under former president Rodrigo Duterte, who sought close economic and political ties with Beijing.

But Mr Duterte's successor, Ferdinand Marcos Jr, reversed the country's foreign policy direction and has cracked down on Pogo-linked crimes since assuming office in 2022.