The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Tuesday vowed to ask the court to issue a precautionary hold departure order (PHDO) against suspended Bamban Mayor Alice Guo and 17 others charged in non-bailable qualified trafficking in persons complaint.
Previously, the Justice Department issued an immigration lookout bulletin order (ILBO) against the respondents.
Once the court grants the PHDO, immigration officers can prevent Guo and her co-respondents from leaving the country under the duration of the DOJ’s preliminary investigation of the aforementioned charges.
“The department will ask the court within the week to issue PHDO,” the Justice Department 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, the DOJ placed the following under the Bureau of Immigration (BI) watchlist: Guo, 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.
The Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) and the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) on June 21 filed before the DOJ a non-bailable qualified human trafficking complaint against Guo and several others in connection with the illegal operations of the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) Zun Yuan Technology Center in Bamban, Tarlac.
Guo and two other Bamban officials had been placed under a six-month preventive suspension by the Office of the Ombudsman on administrative charges filed by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).
The Office of the Ombudsman has since denied Guo’s motion to lift suspension.
In issuing the ILBO, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said: “Under the ILBO, the BI has been directed to guard the movements of respondents and alert authorities on attempts to flee the country.”