THE story of Alice Guo is, by itself, a story of unfathomable malevolence. As if it were lifted from a work of fiction, with the main plot built around the young remnants of the Nazi regime spreading out into adopted homelands using what appeared to be stolen identities, then gaining massive political and economic power to build their versions of a Fourth Reich. What happened in Bamban, Tarlac, though, is not fiction but real. The former Guo Hua Ping became Alice Guo by exploiting the cracks in our weak institutions, establishing a land development company to host Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) in her adopted town, then amassed enough wealth to win the mayoral race there, which also meant power to preside over the affairs of the POGOs her company hosted.

Photos of suspended Mayor Alice Guo's abandoned house in Bamban, Tarlac after a team from the Office of the Senate Sergeant-of-Arms accompanied by police arrive on July 13, 2024 to serve the arrest order against her by the Senate for failing to attend its hearings on the raid of an illegal Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) in Guo's town. CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS
Photos of suspended Mayor Alice Guo's abandoned house in Bamban, Tarlac after a team from the Office of the Senate Sergeant-of-Arms accompanied by police arrive on July 13, 2024 to serve the arrest order against her by the Senate for failing to attend its hearings on the raid of an illegal Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) in Guo's town. CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS
Photos of suspended Mayor Alice Guo's abandoned house in Bamban, Tarlac after a team from the Office of the Senate Sergeant-of-Arms accompanied by police arrive on July 13, 2024 to serve the arrest order against her by the Senate for failing to attend its hearings on the raid of an illegal Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) in Guo's town. CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS
Photos of suspended Mayor Alice Guo's abandoned house in Bamban, Tarlac after a team from the Office of the Senate Sergeant-of-Arms accompanied by police arrive on July 13, 2024 to serve the arrest order against her by the Senate for failing to attend its hearings on the raid of an illegal Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) in Guo's town. CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS
Photos of suspended Mayor Alice Guo's abandoned house in Bamban, Tarlac after a team from the Office of the Senate Sergeant-of-Arms accompanied by police arrive on July 13, 2024 to serve the arrest order against her by the Senate for failing to attend its hearings on the raid of an illegal Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) in Guo's town. CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS
Photos of suspended Mayor Alice Guo's abandoned house in Bamban, Tarlac after a team from the Office of the Senate Sergeant-of-Arms accompanied by police arrive on July 13, 2024 to serve the arrest order against her by the Senate for failing to attend its hearings on the raid of an illegal Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) in Guo's town. CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS
Photos of suspended Mayor Alice Guo's abandoned house in Bamban, Tarlac after a team from the Office of the Senate Sergeant-of-Arms accompanied by police arrive on July 13, 2024 to serve the arrest order against her by the Senate for failing to attend its hearings on the raid of an illegal Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) in Guo's town. CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS
Photos of suspended Mayor Alice Guo's abandoned house in Bamban, Tarlac after a team from the Office of the Senate Sergeant-of-Arms accompanied by police arrive on July 13, 2024 to serve the arrest order against her by the Senate for failing to attend its hearings on the raid of an illegal Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) in Guo's town. CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS
Photos of suspended Mayor Alice Guo's abandoned house in Bamban, Tarlac after a team from the Office of the Senate Sergeant-of-Arms accompanied by police arrive on July 13, 2024 to serve the arrest order against her by the Senate for failing to attend its hearings on the raid of an illegal Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) in Guo's town. CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS
Photos of suspended Mayor Alice Guo's abandoned house in Bamban, Tarlac after a team from the Office of the Senate Sergeant-of-Arms accompanied by police arrive on July 13, 2024 to serve the arrest order against her by the Senate for failing to attend its hearings on the raid of an illegal Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) in Guo's town. CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS
Photos of suspended Mayor Alice Guo's abandoned house in Bamban, Tarlac after a team from the Office of the Senate Sergeant-of-Arms accompanied by police arrive on July 13, 2024 to serve the arrest order against her by the Senate for failing to attend its hearings on the raid of an illegal Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) in Guo's town. CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS
Photos of suspended Mayor Alice Guo's abandoned house in Bamban, Tarlac after a team from the Office of the Senate Sergeant-of-Arms accompanied by police arrive on July 13, 2024 to serve the arrest order against her by the Senate for failing to attend its hearings on the raid of an illegal Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) in Guo's town. CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS

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