Marcos: Alice's selfie 'part of new culture'

PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said the «selfie» photo of Alice Guo with government officials that has sparked outrage was part of the country's «new culture.»

The photo of a smiling Guo making a peace sign as she sat next to Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Rommel Marbil and Interior and Local Government Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. has triggered a torrent of criticism.

But President Marcos sees nothing wrong with the photo. «I think that is part of the new culture now that they will take photos, post them, and brag that they were part of the team who arrested this person,» he said.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. PCO Photo

«We are the Selfie Capital of the World, right? So they took a selfie. We cannot stop people from smiling anyway. So they just had a selfie. I don't think there's much more to it than that,» he added.

Abalos and Marbil led a team that fetched the dismissed mayor from Indonesia, where she had fled.

Guo was also smiling in another photo of her with National Bureau of Investigation personnel inside what appeared to be a van.

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Confronted about the photo by reporters after he arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) early Friday morning, Abalos said he could not see what Guo was doing «because I was looking at the camera.»

Guo, who was at the briefing, said she was happy when she saw Abalos and Marbil and that she felt «safe.»

Abalos said Guo «requested to talk to the both of us, and she said she was receiving death threats, and we assured that she should not worry about the threats, as long as she tells the truth.»

In a stinging post on Instagram, Sen. Risa Hontiveros said the «arrest of a fugitive with multiple cases of human trafficking, money laundering, fake identity, gross misconduct, illegal recruitment and detention, and corruption should be made into a social event.»

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Hontiveros heads a Senate committee investigating Philippine offshore gaming operators or POGOs, where Guo had testified several times.

«We want answers, not a photo shoot,» she added. «After she tried to hide from the law, Alice Guo turned this into a fan meet… Let's see how photogenic she is on Monday's hearing.»

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