Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo testifies at the Senate hearing in Pasay City on May 22, 2024 as she faces questions on her identity and alleged ties to a raided POGO hub in her town. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News/File

MANILA -- The Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) on Saturday admitted that law enforcement agencies should be blamed for the departure of dismissed Bamban Mayor Alice Guo from the Philippines, despite her high-profile status in illegal gambling operations in the country.

Indonesian immigration registered Guo's departure from Bali on July 17, but her departure records from the Philippines could not be found at any airport or seaport, said PAOCC spokesperson Winston Casio.

READ: Guo has left Philippines, says Hontiveros

"Someone somewhere dropped the ball, someone somewhere dribbled the ball so kailangan iniimbestigahan namin," Casio said in a press conference.

"This would not have happened if no private or public individuals assisted here… An operation of that magnitude has so many moving parts. It would require a technical expertise," he said.

While the Bureau of Immigration (BI) is in charge of official entry and exit points of the country, law enforcement personnel outnumber Immigration officials in the Philippines, he said.

Authorities were supposed to apprehend Guo in a "private resort in the western tip of Luzon on July 17, Casio said.

"Our source inside that particular location informed us that she left via 2 speed boats in the early hours of our operations," he said.

"I will not put the blame on the Department of Justice. I will put the blame among us, in law enforcement… We are doing our jobs but I cannot say the same for everyone within the organization," he said.

"We do not live in a fantasy world so we have to admit that corruption is seeping in some parts of government… Nakakalusot ang mga ito because of money," he added.

Philippine authorities were only alerted of Guo's departure from the Philippines earlier this week after Sen. Risa Hontiveros presented the former mayor's immigration records from other Southeast Asian countries.

Documents showed that Guo left Bali on July 17 via a flight to Kuala Lumpur. After four days in Malaysia, she flew to Singapore, where she stayed for about a month before heading to Batam, an industrial town and transportation hub in Indonesia.

"Aaminin namin na kami din ay nagulantang sa privilege speech ni Sen. Hontiveros kasi we kept on checking the records," Casio said, noting that official records never indicated that Guo left the Philippines.

"Napakatanga naman naming lahat sa law enforcement at hindi namin siya nabantayan at nakita?" he said.

Investigations on Guo's getaway "should start with us," the PAOCC spokesperson said.

"'Pag may imbestigasyon, dapat magsimula sa aming lahat. Walang itatago. Lahat kami imbestigahan lahat," he said.

"Call us out," he said.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. earlier said that "heads will roll" over Guo's departure from the Philippines as it "laid bare the corruption that undermines our justice system and erodes public trust."

READ: Palace tells DFA to cancel passports of Alice Guo, siblings

READ: DOJ orders probe on alleged Guo escape, eyes sanctions

RELATED VIDEO: