{"id":777017041,"date":"2024-07-08T09:45:15","date_gmt":"2024-07-08T12:45:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777017041"},"modified":"2026-04-22T08:24:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T11:24:10","slug":"paocc-opposes-designation-of-alice-guo-as-state-witness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/paocc-opposes-designation-of-alice-guo-as-state-witness","title":{"rendered":"PAOCC opposes designation of Alice Guo as state witness"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>PAOCC spokesperson Winston Casio said Guo would need to be able to point to a superior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>The Philippines.- Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) spokesperson<strong>\u00a0Winston John Casio <\/strong>has expressed opposition to the proposal to designate <strong>Alice Guo<\/strong>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/bamban-mayor-suspended-over-alleged-gaming-links\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the suspended mayor of Bamban<\/a>, Tarlac,\u00a0as a state witness in an investigation into involving human trafficking linked to offshore gaming operators He said<strong> Guo is considered a significant figure <\/strong>rather than the least culpable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Casio pointed out that to be a state witness, someone must show they are the least guilty in the criminal chain under investigation. However, he recognised that any decision on Guo&#8217;s status as a state witness would fall under the jurisdiction of prosecutors, not the PAOCC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Last Wednesday (July 3), senator<strong>\u00a0Sherwin Gatchalian<\/strong>\u00a0called on <strong>Alice Guo <\/strong>to cooperate with authorities by <a href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/philippine-senator-urges-alice-guo-to-expose-illicit-activities\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">disclosing critical information<\/a> regarding the operations and key figures involved in gambling operators linked to illegal activities. The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) is contemplating filing an election offence case against Guo. She was also\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/bamban-mayor-expelled-from-npc-party\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">expelled from the Nationalist People\u2019s Coalition (NPC)<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>See also:&nbsp;<\/strong><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/philippines-more-charges-expected-against-suspended-bamban-mayor\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Philippines: more charges expected against suspended Bamban mayor<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PAOCC spokesperson Winston Casio said Guo would need to be able to point to a superior.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":21187,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"The Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) opposes designating suspended mayor Alice Guo as a state witness in a human trafficking investigation linked to offshore gaming operators, citing her significant culpability. This decision, while ultimately with prosecutors, underscores ongoing regulatory scrutiny and legal challenges within the Philippine iGaming sector. Other entities like COMELEC and Senator Gatchalian are also pursuing actions against Guo.","focusai_entities":"Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission, PAOCC, Winston John Casio, Alice Guo, Bamban, Tarlac, Sherwin Gatchalian, Commission on Elections, COMELEC, Nationalist People\u2019s Coalition, NPC","focusai_location":"Philippines, Bamban, Tarlac","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.8), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (0.7), investor_analyst (0.8), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"State Witness Criteria Impact?","query":"What are the precise implications of the 'least culpable' standard for state witness designation on future high-profile investigations involving illegal iGaming operations and political figures in the Philippines?"},{"label":"Regulatory Framework Evolution?","query":"How might the ongoing investigations into human trafficking and election offenses linked to offshore gaming operators influence the broader regulatory and governance frameworks for the legitimate iGaming sector in the Philippines?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[439,16333],"tags":[229],"class_list":["post-777017041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legal-news","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-gambling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777017041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777017041"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777017041\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777017048,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777017041\/revisions\/777017048"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777017041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777017041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777017041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}