BATASAN HILLS, Quezon City — Dismissed Bamban, Tarlac mayor Alice Guo insisted she fled the country because of threats on her life and not because she wanted to elude the charges filed against her regarding her involvement in the illegal operations of the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) hub in her hometown in Tarlac.

In a video footage posted in the Facebook account of Secretary Benjamin ‘Benhur’ Abalos Jr.’s which showed the interior and local government chief’s meeting with Guo in Jakarta, the beleaguered former Bamban mayor was heard asking for help because there are threats against her life.

Placing little concern over the request on the belief that the threats were just rumors, Abalos told Guo to divulge all that she knew about POGO operations in the country.

However, the former Mandaluyong City mayor hinted that “a bigger person is involved” and that despite her fears, Guo should be afraid for her life because her safety will be secured by the authorities.

Guo faces human trafficking and money laundering charges stemming from her alleged involvement in the illegal POGO hub in Bamban town.

Justice assistant secretary Mico Clavano disclosed that at present, “because of what is known and what is turning up in the probe, Guo remains to be the guiltiest and thereby disqualifies her from becoming a state witness.”

However, Clavano said if they find that a bigger person was behind the illegal POGO activities, she may be considered as state witness since she would no longer be the most-guilty among others involved in POGO operations.

The justice official also noted that turning Guo into a state witness would also “depend on her willingness to cooperate with law enforcers.”

Guo disappeared from public view after attending a number of Senate hearings in May. She then left the country in July despite her name being on an immigration lookout bulletin.

Prior to this, President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. vowed that “heads will roll” after Guo, along with her supposed siblings, Wesley and Shiela, and their purported associate, Cassandra Li Ong, fled the Philippines in mid-August at the height of the congressional investigations on illegal POGOs in the country.

Investigation showed that Guo — whose name appeared on several documents of a raided POGO hub in Tarlac — and the others were able to leave the country by taking multiple boat rides to Sabah, Malaysia. They then made their way to Singapore and Indonesia.

Shiela was arrested with Ong in Batam, Indonesia the other week before they could board a ferry back to Singapore, while Alice was arrested in Jakarta earlier last week.