Dismissed Bamban Mayor Alice Guo is accompanied by Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos inside a room at the Royal Star Aviation hangar in Pasay City shortly after her arrival on September 6, 2024. Guo, who is facing several cases related to her alleged involvement in illegal gambling operations, was arrested in Indonesia earlier this week after fleeing the Philippines in July undetected. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News 

MANILA – President Ferdinand Marcos Jr on Friday denied reports that the Indonesian government requested Philippine authorities to turn over Gregor Johann Haas, an Australian man wanted by Jakarta for drug trafficking charges, following the arrest of dismissed Bamban Mayor Alice Guo in Indonesia.

“Wala naman nag-swap, nag-swap… Lumabas sa isang article sa Indonesia na dapat mag-swap. Pero hindi official yun,” Marcos Jr told reporters in Antipolo.

But Marcos acknowledged that Guo’s return to the Philippines “wasn’t simple at all.” 

“We were negotiating very intricate, very sensitive and very delicate details for the last, what, maybe 48 hours. Kinakausap natin mga kaibigan natin sa Indonesia, mabuti na lang marami tayong naging kaibigan dahil sa pagpunta-punta ko, pagpunta ko sa ibang mga bansa, Indonesia being one of them at naging malapit kami ni President Jokowi,” Marcos said. 

“Naging bahagi yun kaya’t kahit na hindi ganun kasimple ang pag transfer, ating napakiusapan naman ang ating mga kaibigan sa Indonesia na bayaan na ang Pilipinas na kunin na sya at ibalik dito sa Pilipinas,” he said.

Alice Guo returns to Tarlac to face court

Guo returned early Friday to the Philippines, where she is accused of human trafficking and links to a Chinese-run online gambling center where hundreds of people were forced to run scams or risk torture.

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She faces charges of graft, money laundering and human trafficking in relation to the scam-farm raid in Bamban.

Guo is also wanted by the Philippine Senate for refusing to attend hearings on her alleged ties to scam-farm operations in Bamban.

Senate or Camp Crame? Conflict over Alice Guo custody looms

– With a report from Agence France-Presse