THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) yesterday approved the filing of criminal charges against suspended Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo for allegedly making a material misrepresentation in her Certificate of Candidacy (COC) filed for the May 2022 polls.
In its Minute Resolution No. 24-0559, the Comelec en banc adopted the recommendation of its fact-finding investigation team that looked into the probability of Guo making false declarations in her COC when she ran for mayor of Bamban.
“The Commission, after due deliberation resolves to adopt the recommendation of the Law Department in the hereto attached and forming integral part hereof, fact-finding investigation on Mayor Alice Leal Guo relative to her candidacy for mayor, Municipality of Bamban, Province of Tarlac,” said the Comelec.
Meanwhile, the human trafficking case against suspended Alice Guo has been submitted for resolution after she failed anew to attend the hearing at the Department of Justice yesterday.
Last week, the fact-finding panel of the Comelec Law Department submitted its findings to the Commission en banc.
In its recommendation, the Comelec fact-finding team found “sufficient factual bases” to proceed with a preliminary investigation, as well as to file a motu proprio complaint by the Law Department against Guo.
The report gave credence to the findings that found Mayor Guo and a certain Guo Hua Ping y Lin are “one and the same person.”
The panel said there are stark contrasts in the details provided in Guo’s COC and in the Alien Fingerprint Card of Guo Hua Ping.
Based on the COC of Guo, she is a Filipino citizen born in Tarlac, Tarlac on July 12, 1986 and a resident of the Philippines for more or less 35 years.
In the Alien Fingerprint Card, she is a Chinese citizen born in Fujian, China on August 31, 1990 and a resident of Fujian, China as of 28 March 2006.
A material misrepresentation is committed if there is false representation in the qualifications for elective office and the presence of a deliberate attempt to mislead, misinform, or hide a fact that would otherwise render a candidate ineligible.
Material misrepresentation in the COC is considered an election offense under the Omnibus Election Code.
Comelec Chairman George Garcia said the decision of the Commission en banc means the Law Department is being directed to immediately conduct a preliminary investigation against Guo.
“A preliminary investigation regularly runs for two to three weeks. And after the mandatory filings (of the respondent), it can be deemed submitted for resolution,” said Garcia.
He said the Comelec en banc would also decide if an actual case would be filed in court.
He said an election offense case is set to be filed in a regular court and not with the Commission.
“Just in case, it will be filed at the Regional Trial Court in Tarlac,” said Garcia.
During the DOJ hearing yesterday, Guo’s camp failed to submit her counter affidavit to the complaint filed by the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) and the PNP CIDG over the raided Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) hub in her municipality.
“Mayor Alice Guo and three other Chinese incorporators were not able to file and it was decided by the panel of prosecutors not to give them anymore another chance or another extension,” said DOJ Assistant Secretary and spokesperson Jose Dominic Clavano.
Guo and the other respondents were a no-show during the July 22 hearing of the case but the DOJ decided to give them more time — until August 6 — to file their counter affidavits.
But Clavano said the panel granted another extension to former Technology and Livelihood Resource Center deputy director general Dennis Cunanan, Lin Baoying and another respondent in the case, or until August 16, for them to submit their respective counter affidavits.
“They were granted an extension of 10 days to file their respective counter-affidavits,” Clavano said.
The DOJ and the PAOCC have called on Guo to surface and personally face the charges. — With Ashzel Hachero
