BAMBAN, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo has challenged the Ombudsman’s order dated May 31, 2024 slapping her a six-month preventive suspension, asking that the directive be recalled and set aside.
In her 31-page Motion for Reconsideration filed yesterday, she said her suspension should be lifted because the condition of “strong evidence of guilt” was not complied with, insisting that none of her actions violated existing laws.
“The evidence against respondent Guo does not rest on substantial evidence considering that the allegations in the complaint have no basis either in fact and in law (but) are based on mere surmises, speculations, opinions,” she said.
A complaint filed by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) through Undersecretary Juan Victor Llamas accused Guo and her co-respondents — Business Permit and Licensing Officer Edwin Ocampo and Legal Officer Adenn Sigua — of gross misconduct, serious dishonesty, gross neglect of duty, and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service.
The case stemmed from an investigation by a DILG task force on human trafficking and serious illegal detention after a Vietnamese sought assistance from the Bamban PNP regarding the offshore gaming operations of Zun Yuan Technology inside the Baufo Land Development Inc. in Bamban, Tarlac.
A subsequent raid on March 13, 2024 by the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) resulted in the recovery of evidence linking Guo to Zun Yuan.
Investigations by the DILG task force yielded the following information. First, it was Guo who purchased eight parcels of land at Barangay Anupul, Bamban Tarlac in February 2019 with the Transfer Certificates of Title in the name of Baufo represented by the mayor as its president. Sigua notarized all the deeds of sale on the said properties.
Second, it was Guo who applied for locational clearance for the different building projects of Baufo, invited businessmen to invest in the Baufo Mixed-Use Development Project, and represented the company in applying for a Letter of No Objection at the Sangguniang Bayan of Bamban. The Ombudsman noted that Guo had admitted to owning a 50 percent stake in Baufo but claims she divested them before she assumed office as mayor in 2022.
Third, she granted Baufo a business permit on October 25, 2022 after the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) canceled Hongsheng’s operating license.
Despite the absence of a Fire Safety Inspection Certificate (FSIC), Guo also issued two business permits to Zun Yuan — on June 27, 2023, and again on January 17, 2024.
Ocampo was implicated in the questioned issuance of permits in favor of Zun Yuan despite the insufficiency of supporting documents.
The Ombudsman said it found sufficient grounds to preventively suspend the respondents considering that “there is strong evidence showing their guilt.”
Guo countered that the Mayor’s Permits for 2023 and 2024 were issued in favor of Zun Yuan only after the company complied with all the requirements set by the Business Process and Licensing Office (BPLO) of the municipal government of Bamban and paid the corresponding fees.
She said the only basis cited by the Ombudsman order for suspending her was the issuance of the business permits in the past two years but she argued that, by itself, the issuance of such permits was not irregular or unlawful.
The mayor insisted that Zun Yuan obtained the permits only after it complied with the conditions and requirements under the Local Government Code and other laws.
“From the foregoing, evidence from such complaints can hardly be considered strong as contemplated under the rules, so as to warrant the imposition of preventive suspension, let alone for the maximum period of six months,” she pointed out.
Guo also denied that the divestment of her interests in Baofu was only simulated as she explained that aside from transferring her share in the company to another person, she likewise sold the property, which was her personal investment.
At the same time, she disputed the statement that the Business Permit should not have been approved since there was no submission yet of the Fire Safety Inspection Certificate (FSIC) and the Affidavit of Undertaking.
She added the issuance of the FSIC is a mandate of the Bureau of Fire Protection and not of the LGU of Bamban and the Supreme Court clarified in its 2021 decision in the case of Ombudsman vs. Gatchalian that the issuance of the business permit is not contingent on the prior submission of a fire safety certificate.
On the supposed expired operating permit from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation, the mayor clarified that Pagcor actually issued a “final extension of the provisional license” in favor of Zun Yuan on January 10, 2024 which was valid until February 29, 2024.
