MANILA - Embattled Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo on Monday insisted that she has no ties to Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs).

In an exclusive interview with Karen Davila, Guo also said that after POGOs in her town were linked to human trafficking and scams, she would ban POGOs from Bamban.  

"Now as long as I'm mayor I will no longer allow any POGO operation in my town," Guo told Davila.  

"Sa sarili kong bayan ayaw ko na po. I will never tolerate, at ayaw ko na rin na magkaroon ng any POGO operation sa sarili kong bayan."

The Bamban mayor said she allowed POGOs in her town because of the economic opportunities they would bring, and because they had licenses from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.

Guo's name was linked to POGOs after Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian questioned asked why the Bamban mayor seemed to be unaware of the illegal activities that POGOs were doing in her jurisdiction.

This was after law enforcers raided the Zun Yuan Technology Inc compound in Bamban in March this year, where around 875 people were rescued, including 432 Chinese nationals, 57 Vietnamese, 8 Malaysians, 3 Taiwanese nationals, 2 Indonesians and 2 Rwandans.

An official of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) said that offshore gaming was just a front for the POGO and that it was operating numerous scams.

Guo said before the raid, there were crimes reported about the POGO.

She said that her team regularly visited the compound where the raided POGO was located, but she herself does not visit it.

"Ayoko pong magkaroon ng conflict of interest. Di po ako pumapasok. Di po ako pumupunta dun sa building," Guo said.

(I don't want to be accused of having a conflict of interest. I don't go there. I don't go to the building.)

Guo also denied that she was the one who applied for a permit and gaming franchise for Hong Sheng Gaming Technologies, a POGO that wound up operating in Bamban. 

She insisted that she only introduced the company to the town's former mayor so that it could secure a permit.  

"Wala naman pong record na magsasabi na nag-apply ako," Guo said on documents showing that her name appearing as an applicant for Hong Sheng.  

(There is no record that will say that I made the application.)

"Afterwards po hindi ko na po nabuigyan ng pansin yung nakalagay po dun sa representative."

(Afterwards, I no longer paid attention to the name shown as the representative [in the application]).