WHILE waiting for the official findings of the Senate and the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), the Commission on Elections (Comelec) is set to get the ball rolling on the possible filing of election offense cases against Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo.
In an interview yesterday, Comelec chief George Garcia said the Commission’s Law Department will begin assessing the evidence that may be used against Guo.
“We will be officially giving directives to our Law Department to start evaluating the case and the findings against her,” said Garcia.
He said the Comelec firmly believes it can run after Guo for allegedly making material misrepresentation in her Certificate of Candidacy (COC) filed for the May 2022 polls when she ran for and won as mayor.
“An election offense has a prescriptive period of five years. If it happened in 2022, it is still within our jurisdiction. If she was able to evade administrative liability, it won’t be the case for criminal liability,” Garcia stressed.
He reiterated they are keenly waiting for the Senate report and the quo warranto petition to be filed by the OSG against Guo.
“We will use the petition of the OSG and the Senate report as a basis. We don’t want to file a case that will only be dismissed. We want a case that has sufficient evidence and is strong,” said Garcia.
He also welcomed the recent pronouncement of Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra that the quo warranto petition is being eyed for filing this month.
“If it is the SolGen that will file a case, we know it will be strong. We are monitoring developments on this,” said Garcia.
Garcia earlier said the Comelec is looking to file an election offense case against Guo for making false claims in her COC.
Last week, the National Bureau of Investigation said Guo’s fingerprints matched the fingerprints of Guo Hua Ping, the Chinese girl who entered the Philippines when she was just 13 years old in 2003.
In her COC, Guo declared Tarlac, Tarlac as her place of birth, and that she has been living in the Philippines for 35 years and two months.
