Guo’s selfie, other shameless acts

Selfies posted online of recently arrested Alice Guo with Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos Jr., national police chief Gen. Rommel Marbil, and several government agents raised such a public stink that even President Marcos felt compelled to address the issue.

But contrary to expectations that the President would be the first to draw the line on the conduct of public officials, Mr. Marcos shrugged off the selfie incident as part of our culture, just another proof that the Philippines is “the selfie capital of the world.” He added: “I don’t think there’s much more to it than that.”

The Chief Executive’s observation may be accurate, but his disappointing pronouncement tends to downplay the general sentiment that such actuation by public officials is inappropriate and should neither be condoned nor tolerated.

As Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla explained to the officials involved in the Guo selfie: “Wanted people should not be celebrated. You should focus on securing them if you catch them. It’s not right to take a selfie with them. Let’s change that culture. That should not happen.”

Aside from a public apology from the police and the National Bureau of Investigation—since given—Remulla had “instructed certain officials to give a show cause order to those involved in these pictures,” his assistant secretary Mico Clavano IV said.

And rightly so.

Time-honored principle

As a fugitive, Guo should not be treated like a celebrity, noted Sen. Risa Hontiveros who is leading the Senate investigation into the dismissed Bamban, Tarlac mayor’s alleged links to illegal Philippine offshore gaming operators (Pogos). Guo was captured in Indonesia on Sept. 4, and flown back to the country on Sept. 6.

Did the officials violate Republic Act No. 6713 as well, and can the Civil Service Commission sanction them based on this law which “establish[es] a code of conduct and ethical standards for public officials and employees, [for them] to uphold the time-honored principle of public office being a public trust”?

But more than just another indication of unprofessional conduct among errant government officials, that selfie also reveals the woeful cult of celebrity that has hobbled the country’s political maturity. How many actors, radio-TV personalities, and celebrities have been voted into office based on sheer media presence and the bigger-than-life personalities they’ve portrayed onscreen? With the 2025 elections just around the corner, expect more peacock posturing as politicians pander to celebrity-hounding voters who, alas, might be encouraged by the President’s dismissive stance on the Guo selfie incident.

Checkered record

The public outrage over those self-indulgent selfies notwithstanding, it should not obscure the more serious issue that brought it on in the first place: How Guo managed to slip out of the country in July despite her public notoriety because of her alleged insidious links to illegal Pogos. Guo also faces money laundering cases, tax evasion, human trafficking, and misrepresentation charges for allegedly acquiring her Filipino citizenship through fraudulent means.

Despite Guo vowing before the ongoing Senate hearing that no local officials helped her flee through the country’s porous borders, there’s no denying that the checkered record of the Bureau of Immigration (BI) readily convicted it of negligence, nay complicity, in Guo’s escape before the court of public opinion.

The relief this week of Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco thus comes as no surprise. President Marcos has dismissed the BI chief over “irregularities” in the agency, amid Guo’s escape.

String of lapses

Earlier, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian said the BI was aware of Guo’s departure but kept the President in the dark on her whereabouts. Remulla meanwhile said Tansingco “never did anything” despite reports that working visas were being issued to fake corporations that granted entry to illegal gambling workers in the country.

The BI commissioner’s firing is a necessary step to correct the string of lapses among public officials that had enabled Guo to stage her grand design of faking her way into public office and establishing illegal but lucrative Pogo hubs. Next to get the axe should be the civil registrars in Mindanao who issued as many as 1,200 fake birth certificates to spurious aliens to facilitate their access to Filipino citizenship and its many privileges.

Accountability must be exacted as well from officials and personnel of other agencies who might have helped Guo evade the Senate’s arrest warrant and court cases, in line with Mr. Marcos’ previous warning that “heads will roll” after Guo’s escape.

With Senate hearings still unraveling the many crimes and personalities involved in the Pogo scams, such uncompromising stance and heavy sanctions should be pursued vigorously if the country’s laws were to earn the full respect they deserve—and the quaking fear of felons and their cohorts in government.