THE Office of the Solicitor General yesterday filed a quo warranto petition against suspended Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo due to “acts of serious dishonesty” and asked that she be removed from office.
In a 45-page petition, the OSG asked the Manila Regional Trial court to declare the proclamation of Guo as mayor null and void.
The OSG said Guo, who has repeatedly claimed she is a Filipino, is not eligible to hold public office. She has been exposed by the National Bureau of Investigation as a Chinese citizen.
“Guo Hua Ping, aka Alice Leal Guo, is unlawfully holding the position and illegally exercising the duties and responsibilities of the office of the mayor of Bamban, Tarlac. As abundantly shown by various government records, respondent Guo Hua Ping aka Alice Leal Guo is the daughter of two Chinese citizens, Lin Wenyi and Guo Jiang Zhong,” the OSG said.
“More specifically, she has committed acts of serious dishonesty which, under the Local Government Code, warrant her removal from office,” it added.
The petition said serious dishonesty is a ground for forfeiture from public office under Section 1 (b) Rule 66 of the Rules of Court in relation to Section 60 of RA 7160 or the Local Government Code.
The OSG said Guo’s misrepresentation in government documents “are tainted with moral depravity.”
Aside from claiming she is a Filipino, Guo has also consistently denied that Lin Wenyi is her biological mother and that her true mother is Amelia Leal, whom she described as their former househelp.
“Certainly, the foregoing misrepresentations cannot be ignored as mere lapses of memory,” the OSG added.
NO SHOW
Guo and her family members were still no-shows yesterday during the resumption of the Senate Committee on Women inquiry into the ills of the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) industry.
Senate deputy minority leader Risa Hontiveros, who chairs the panel, said she is confident the Office of the Senate Sergeant-At-Arms, in cooperation with law enforcement agencies, would soon arrest Guo.
“Sa mga nagtatago ngayon (To those still hiding), the long arm of the law will soon reach you. Guo Hua Ping, tahasan kang nagsinungaling sa komiteng ito (you have blatantly lied before this committee). Tahasan mong sinuway ang subpoena at contempt citation (You have totally disregarded the subpoena and contempt citation). You may be able to hide now, but you will not be able to hide forever,” Hontiveros said.
Hontiveros also said she had received information that Hongjiang Yang, the brother of former presidential adviser Michael Yan, is now in China.
She asked concerned agencies to be on the lookout for individuals who have links with POGOs.
During the hearing, NBI Assistant Director Angelito Magno said they had received information from their “assets” that Guo had been sighted in some areas in Bulacan before the issuance of an arrest warrant against her last July 11.
“We were informed by our assets, prior to the issuance of the warrant of arrest, there were some sightings in Bulacan,” Magno said upon the questioning of Senate president pro tempore Jinggoy Estrada.
He said the warrants of arrest against Guo and her family have been delivered “to our regions” to locate and arrest them.
Estrada told the NBI to do its best to locate Guo within a month, otherwise “maapektuhan ang budget ninyo (your budget [for 2025] will be affected),” adding the same would also happen to the PNP.
Lawyer Homer Arellano of the Bureau of Immigration’s prosecution and legal assistance said there are no records that Guo has left the country as of yesterday morning.
“Based on our records, she is still in the Philippines,” Arellano said.
Arellano said immigration agents were given specific orders to strictly monitor all seaports and airports.
Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Roberto Angcan said they are constantly coordinating with the PNP and NBI to locate and arrest Guo.
Col. John Mark Lagare, CIDG chief of staff, said they have designated a tracker team “from the regional field unit and also from the higher regulators to look for Mayor Alice Guo.”
“We can’t just keep on waiting here. You have a weak intelligence network if that’s the case. You better get your acts together,” Estrada told them in Filipino and English.
GAMO SPEAKS
Nancy Gamo, the accountant of the Guo family, said she is not a regular employee of the Guo family and takes accounting jobs on a per-project basis.
Speaking during the Senate committee hearing, Gamo said she met Guo in 2012 and was asked to help in her family’s companies and other businesses where Guo has interests, including the 3 Lin-Q Farms, Zun Yuan Technology Inc., Baofu Land Development Inc.,
Hongsheng Gaming technology, QJJ Slaughter House, QJJ Smelting Plant, Qseed Genetics Inc. The Siopao Bulilits Foods Inc. and West Cars Inc.
Gamo said she did the paperwork for Guo’s businesses but added the mayor was not a special client.
Gamo is one of the eight individuals issued warrants of arrest by the Committee on Women for their failure to attend past hearings. She was arrested last July 13 in Caloocan City and is detained at the Senate building.
Sen. Robin Padilla moved to lift the contempt citation on Gamo, saying she is a cooperative resource person.
Hontiveros agreed and said she would immediately ask Senate President Francis Escudero to lift the warrant on Gamo.
