MANILA (Reuters) -A Philippine trial court has sentenced a former mayor accused of having ties to Chinese criminal syndicates to life imprisonment after finding her guilty of human trafficking, a government anti-crime agency said on Thursday.

Alice Guo ran for mayor in Bamban, an agricultural town north of the capital Manila, as a Filipino citizen, but she was later identified by law enforcement as Chinese national Guo Hua Ping.

“This eagerly awaited ruling is not only a legal victory but also a moral one. It delivers justice to victims, reaffirms the government’s united stance against organised crime,” the Presidential Anti-Organised Crime Commission (PAOCC) said in a statement.

Guo’s lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Guo has previously denied links to crimin

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