THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) yesterday formally filed criminal charges against dismissed Bamban, Tarlac mayor Alice Guo for allegedly committing material misrepresentation in her Certificate of Candidacy (COC) for the May 2022 polls.
In an Information filed before the Capas, Tarlac Regional Trial Court (RTC), the Comelec accused Guo of violating Section 74 of the Omnibus Election Code.
“The accused Alice Leal Guo/Hua Ping Lin Guo, did then and there, willfully and unlawfully, commit material misrepresentation by filing her Certificate of Candidacy for the position of Mayor of the Municipality of Bamban, Province of Tarlac, and declaring under oath that she is eligible for the position she seeks to be elected, when in truth and in fact, she is a Chinese citizen and a resident of Fujian, China,” said the Comelec.
The criminal information was filed by the Comelec Law Department; Comelec – Central Luzon Assistant Regional Election Director Atty. Elmo Duque; and Bamban, Tarlac Election Officer Edmund Salvador.
The election offense case Guo faces carries a penalty of one to six years imprisonment, disqualification from holding public office, and removal of the right to vote.
Earlier in the month, the Comelec en banc adopted the recommendation of its Law Department to file criminal raps before the appropriate regular court against Guo.
In its recommendation, the Law Department said there is clear evidence showing Guo led when she declared she was a Filipino citizen when in fact she is Chinese.
“It is clear from the evidence presented by Complainant that there is sufficient ground to believe that Respondent committed material misrepresentation in violation of Section 74 of the OEC in relation to Section 262 of the same Code when she declared in her COC that she is a Filipino citizen and is a resident of Bamban, Tarlac, when in truth and in fact, she is not,” said the Comelec.
In her COC, Guo declared her name as Alice Leal Guo; her citizenship as Filipino; birthplace in Tarlac, Tarlac; birthday on July 12, 1986; and has been residing in the Philippines for 35 years and 2 months and in Bamban, Tarlac for 18 years and 2 months on the day before the polls.
But her NBI Alien Fingerprint Card showed her name as Hua Ping Lin Guo; her citizenship as Chinese; her birthplace in Fujian, China; her birthday on August 31, 1990; and a resident of Fujian, China as of March 2006.
