EMBATTLED Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo has been ordered removed from office and barred from holding any other government post in a 25-page decision issued by the Office of the Ombudsman last Monday.
“Wherefore, this Office finds Alice Leal Guo guilty of Grave Misconduct for which she is meted the penalty of dismissal from service with forfeiture of all her retirement benefits and perpetual disqualification to re-enter government service,” the Ombudsman said.
The ruling was based on the findings and recommendations of a special panel of investigators composed of Assistant Ombudsman Rex Reynaldo Sandoval as chairperson, Preliminary Investigation, Administrative Adjudication, and Monitoring Office (PAMO) director Rosano Oliva as vice chairperson, and Graft Investigation and Prosecution Officers (GIPO) Maria Vida Hechanova and Lolita Simeona Micu-Bravo.
Ombudsman Samuel Martires ordered the Field Investigation Bureau — Military and Other Law Enforcement Offices (FIB-MOLEO) to implement the dismissal order and submit a compliance report within five days.
Vice Mayor Leonardo Anunciacion, Business Permit and Licensing Officer Edwin Campo, Municipal Legal Officer Adenn Sigua, and Sangguniang Bayan members Johny Sales, Jayson Galang, Nikko Balilo, Ernesto Salting, Jose Salting Jr., Robin Mangiliman, Jose Casmo Aguilar, Mary Andrei Lacsamana, and Ranier Rivera were pronounced guilty of Conduct Prejudicial to the Best Interest of the Service and were ordered suspended for three months.
Senate deputy minority leader Risa Hontiveros commended the Ombudsman for its decision, saying: “Alice Guo or Guo Hua Ping, a Chinese national, does not deserve to be a Philippine mayor. She should have been stripped of that title immediately after we confirmed that she was not Filipino.”
She said the other cases Guo is facing will bring justice to the victims once the dismissed mayor is arrested by authorities.
“I trust that our law enforcers are working double time to catch this fugitive,” she added.
The Senate panel chaired by Hontiveros has held numerous hearings on the involvement of Guo and her family in a POGO hub in Bamban that later led to questions on the mayor’s citizenship. Guo has not been seen in public for a long time.
The National Bureau of Investigation had unmasked Guo as a Chinese masquerading as a Filipino.
The Ombudsman said the penalty imposed on Guo would be converted to a fine equivalent to her salary for one year if she was already separated from the service while those penalized by suspension have to pay a sum equivalent to three months’ pay.
Complaints on the rest of the respondents, including former Vice Mayor William Cura and former Sangguniang Bayan (municipal council) members Erano Timbang, Alvin Dale Sibal, Fortunato Mejia, Ariel Alimurong, and Eduardo Gutierrez, were dismissed for lack of jurisdiction since they are no longer connected to any public office.
The Ombudsman said the Department of the Interior and Local Government should look into the possible inclusion of former Bamban Mayor Jose Antonio Feliciano for “his role in accommodating the requests of Guo relative to the issuance of a Letter of No Objection” in favor of Hongsheng Gaming Technology Inc, an offshore gaming operator.
The ruling was based on the May 24, 2024 administrative complaint filed by the DILG against the LGU officials for their alleged involvement in the illegal operations of a Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator inside the Baofu Compound in Bamban, Tarlac.
“Guo’s acts beginning from the time when she was still a private individual to the time she became the Mayor of Bamban …altogether, point to a willful intent on her part to violate the law or disregard established rules,” the panel of investigators said.
These acts include her acquisition of parcels of land in 2019 which later formed the Baofu Compound; her application for reclassification of the farm lots into residential/commercial use; her involvement in organizing and registering Baofu; securing various clearances and permits for the construction of structures inside the Baofu Compound even after she supposedly divested her interests in the company;
Personal intercession with the Sangguniang Bayan to facilitate the issuance of the Letter of No Objection; failure to revoke the permit of Hongsheng after it was raided on February 1, 2023 and the cancellation of its license by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation; issuance of business permits to Zun Yuan despite deficiencies in its application; and failure to revoke the said permit after Zun Yuan was found to have violated the conditions for such privilege.
The Ombudsman said that taken together, the actions of Guo led to no other conclusion other than that she had “ulterior motive or self-interest.”
It likewise found proof that the supposed Deed of Assignment of shares of stocks was bogus as it did not exist.
“The above-described Deed of Assignment cannot be accorded the presumption of regularity and due execution. Hence, in strict legal parlance, Guo remained to be the President of Baofu Land Development Inc.,” the Ombudsman added.
It stressed that even after she assumed the post of Bamban mayor, Guo “remained the real, true, and actual President of Baofu Land Development Inc. and stands to benefit from the continued operations of Hongsheng and Zun Yuan.”
Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) executive director Gilbert Cruz said the Ombudsman’s decision against Guo “is a testament to the hard work of the men and women who have fought the good fight against illegal POGOs.”
Cruz expressed the PAOCC’s gratitude to Ombudsman Samuel Martires and his team “for standing for the Filipino people.
“We also believe that this recent development serves as a clear reminder that our criminal justice is working. Finally, let it be known that PAOCC and its partners will always fight for our people, regardless of the challenges ahead,” said Cruz.
QUO WARRANTO
Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra said the Ombudsman decision will not affect the quo warranto petition filed against Guo.
“The quo warranto petition will proceed for two reasons: Mayor Alice Guo may still appeal the Ombudsman’s dismissal order and the quo warranto petition, if successful, will make Guo Hua Ping (aka Alice Guo) ineligible to run for any elective public position in the future,” Guevarra explained.
The Ombudsman’s decision dismissing Guo from her post was based on the complaint filed by the Department of the Interior and Local Government accusing her and other local officials of Bamban, Tarlac of committing grave misconduct, serious dishonesty, gross neglect of duty, and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service in connection with their alleged involvement in the operation of a Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) hub in Bamban that was raided by authorities last May.
The quo warranto petition was filed by the OSG before the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 34 seeking to declare Guo’s proclamation as Bamban mayor null and void and for her to be ousted from her post.
The OSG argued that Guo is Chinese and is ineligible to run for public office, adding that she committed acts that constituted grounds for the forfeiture of her office.
COMELEC SUBPOENA
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) yesterday formally informed the camp of Guo of the complaint filed against her for alleged material misrepresentation in her Certificate of Candidacy (COC) in the May 2022 polls.
Accompanied by members of the PNP, personnel of the Comelec Law Department went to the Bamban Municipal Hall to serve the subpoena in the Office of the Mayor, wherein it was received by the secretary, Alice Manaloto.
“We went to her office, which is, of course, as good as her residence in so far as she is a public official,” said Comelec – Region III Assistant Regional Election Director Elmo Duque.
“We served it to a competent person in charge of the office by the name of Ms. Manaloto. She received it, and, therefore, at that moment, we have served the subpoena,” he added.
Before the subpoena was served at the municipal hall, the Comelec initially attempted to serve it in her declared address in her Certificate of Candidacy (COC).
An unidentified individual opened the red gate of the livestock farm of Guo in Barangay Virgen delos Remedios in Bamban but refused to officially receive the document.
“She (Guo) was not there. There was one who received it but didn’t want to make it official. He was the caretaker of unknown identity,” said Duque.
“That person has no authority to receive (it). He does not want to give his name so we just left the copy to him,” he added.
Last week, the Comelec en banc ordered the filing of the complaint against Guo and the conduct of a preliminary investigation by the Law Department.
This was in accordance with the recommendation of the fact-finding committee of the poll body which found “sufficient factual bases” to charge Guo with material misrepresentation.
With the subpoena now served, the Comelec Law Department ordered Guo to personally file her counter-affidavit within 10 days from receipt of the subpoena.
“You are hereby directed to file personally your Counter-Affidavit and other supporting documents or affidavits of your witness/es, if any, with the Law Department at the Comelec Main Office,” the Comelec Law Department said.
Failure to do so, it stressed, shall not prevent the Comelec from submitting the case for resolution.
“You are hereby warned that failure on your part to comply with the subpoena shall be considered as a waiver of your right to present your defense, and the case shall be considered submitted for resolution based on the evidence on record,” said the Comelec.
TAX EVASION
The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) will file a tax evasion case against Guo before the Justice Department at 8 a.m. today, Wednesday.
The BIR also said it will file a case against a certain Jack Uy and an unidentified corporate secretary of Baofu, likely referring to Baofu Land Development Inc., which owns the lot where the POGO facilities were set up in Bamban.
Last June, BIR Commissioner Romeo Lumagui Jr. ordered the bureau’s revenue officials to look into the names and entities mentioned during the Senate hearings on the Bamban POGO.
“The BIR will also conduct its own investigation against the said individuals and entities. Due process will be followed. If the income declared with the BIR does not match the value of the properties amassed during the same taxable years, criminal cases for tax evasion will be filed,” Lumagui said then.
“The same charges can be filed against conspirators and the corporate officers of the companies used to amass such wealth,” he added. — With Raymond Africa, Victor Reyes, Ashzel Hachero, Gerard Naval and Angela Celis
