SEN. Sherwin Gatchalian yesterday said the Committee on Women will reach out to the Chinese Embassy to check the real identity of Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo, noting the marked similarity between the mayor and a certain Guo Hua Ping who entered the country in 2003.
In an interview with ANC, Gatchalian said the request will be coursed through the Department of Foreign Affairs, which will make the proper coordination with the Chinese embassy in Manila, as a matter of protocol.
“The committee is already doing that. In fact, we’ve sent a letter to the committee to initiate proceedings coordinating with the Chinese Embassy,” he said.
Gatchalian stressed he is convinced that Guo and Guo Hua Ping are one and the same person.
Records from the Bureau of Immigration and the Board of Investments which issued a Special Investor’s Resident Visa (SIRV) to the Guo family showed Guo Hua Ping entered the country on January 12, 2003 when she was 13 years old.
He said the listed mother of Guo Hua Ping was Lin Wen Yi, the woman that Guo had introduced to their neighbors in Valenzuela City as her mother.
Guo has denied that Lin is her mother, insisting that Amelia Leal was her biological mother. But she never recalled having met Leal in person.
Last Wednesday, Gatchalian listed several things that convinced him that Guo and Guo Hua Ping are the same person.
He said a picture of Guo Hua Ping in the Special Investor’s Resident Visa showed she and Guo have similar features.
He added that Lin We Yi was listed in the SIRV as Guo’s mother.
Gatchalian pointed to the fact that Guo had no birth or school records in the Philippines. He noted that Guo Hua Ping entered the country in 2003 and her father later availed of late registration with the Philippine Statistics Authority.
Further, Gatchalian said Guo claimed that her mother was Amelia Lea, but her three other siblings — Shiela, Xiemen, and Wesley–were also born to Amelia Leal, based on their respective birth certificates.
“Initially, I’m very confident na iisang tao si Guo Hua Ping at si Alice Guo,” he said.
RESOLUTION
Gatchalian said he has filed Senate Resolution No. 1053 urging the appropriate Senate panel to investigate the proliferation of fake birth certificates which allow unscrupulous individuals, including foreigners, to secure government-issued IDs, evade immigration laws, and perpetrate crimes.
“Syndicates may be behind the proliferation of fake birth certificates as well as the apparent abuse of the late birth registration system,” he said.
Gatchalian filed the resolution after several discrepancies were discovered in Guo’s birth certificate in past Senate hearings, including the absence of government records that will prove that Amelia Leal exists.
During the Senate deliberations on the PSA’s 2024 budget, the agency said there were at least 300 fake birth certificates that were used to apply for Philippine passports from January to September 2023. Six of them belonged to foreigners who were issued Philippine passports.
Gatchalian, chair of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means, pointed out that investigations conducted by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), the Bureau of Immigration (BI), and the PSA have brought to light the alarming proliferation of fake or spurious birth certificates which some foreigners use to secure government identification and evade the country’s immigration laws.
The PSA is currently investigating the proliferation of fake birth certificates, including around 300 incidents involving Filipinos and 65 cases involving foreigners, Gatchalian said.
The DFA has prevented over a hundred foreigners from applying for Philippine passports using spurious documents, with over 55 active cases referred to law enforcement agencies.
According to the DFA, foreigners pose as Filipinos by presenting authentic and genuine PSA-issued birth certificates, along with valid government-issued IDs.
Gatchalian said the BI has expressed alarm over incidents involving overstaying foreigners who misrepresent themselves to secure Philippine documents and evade immigration inspection.
Sen. Loren Legarda said she is convinced that Guo and Guo Hua Ping, who entered the country in 2003, are one and the same.
“I am convinced that she is not who she says she is. She is not a simple person, but how many Guos are there?” Legarda said at the Kapihan sa Senado media forum.
She said what authorities should do is to look for foreigners living in the country who have similar cases like Guo to prevent them from becoming Filipino citizens who can later run for public office.
Legarda said the main problem is corrupt people in government who facilitate the issuance of legal documents in exchange for huge sums of money.
She said it would be wise if the PSA temporarily suspended the late registration system while lawmakers are crafting measures to ensure it cannot be abused.
She lauded Senators Risa Hontiveros and Gatchalian for doing “really very good research” on Guo.
She said it would be best if President Marcos Jr. announced his stand on the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators when he delivers his State-of-the-Nation Address next month.
Legarda said she has always been firm on her position that POGOs should be banned.
ROLE CLARIFIED
The Board of Investments (BOI) has clarified that its role in issuing a special investor’s resident visa (SIRV) is merely an endorsement, adding it is the Bureau of Immigration (BI) that issues the actual visa.
BOI managing head Ceferino Rodolfo made the clarification in the face of the controversy on how a certain Guo Hua Ping was able to obtain an SIRV through the agency in 1999 as a dependent of a Lin Wen Yi based on a legitimate investment in Triumph Embroidery Center Inc.
Rodolfo said Alice Guo does not appear in any BOI documents related to the visa process, adding there is no record indicating any involvement or application under the name Alice Guo in BOI’s visa endorsements.
Ryan Ramos, BOI director, said the SIRV endorsement for Li and her dependents was canceled in 2011 when they applied for a retiree visa, which is being administered separately by the Philippine Retirement Authority.
Rodolfo brushed aside insinuations the SIRV is a possible loophole for scammers and illegal POGOs, noting the BOI has only 3,000 active SIRV holders who are subject to strict annual monitoring.
To obtain an SIRV, a foreign investor has to remit $75,000 to an accredited bank that should be channeled to an actual investment such as shares of stock in a manufacturing or service company, own company, or in a publicly-listed firm. — With Irma Isip
