From the Newsrooms: May 12 to 18, 2024

Media probe the identity of Bamban Mayor Alice Guo

WHO IS Alice Guo? The question remains unanswered even as the media grapple with information about the identity and citizenship of the woman who was elected as mayor of Bamban in Tarlac province. 

The case has sparked questions and concerns that Alice Guo may be part of surge of immigration from the People’s Republic of China and their possible infiltration of government. Coverage also reported the public clamor for answers, particularly asking the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to explain how the agency had allowed Guo to run for public office when she could show no evidence of her Philippine citizenship. 

The Senate promptly probed Guo’s identity after she was linked to a Chinese-run Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) hub operating illegally in her hometown. The POGO hub was raided on March 17 for human trafficking and other illegal activities including online scams and hacking operations. Over 160 Chinese workers were deported. The hub operations were located in a property formerly owned by the Guo. The Senate discovered that the electric power bill was still charged to Guo and that one her vehicles was found inside the compound. Despite the evidence, Guo has denied involvement in the POGO operation.

Guo’s appearance in the Senate raised more questions than answers about her citizenship. The Senate found that Guo’s birth was registered only when she was already 17. Her birth registry showed that she was born to both Filipino parents; although several business documents identified her father as Chinese. Senators Risa Hontiveros and Sherwin Gatchalian pressed Guo for information regarding her dubious citizenship, a line of inquiry to check out suspicion of Guo’s Chinese citizenship, especially after she failed to provide details about her birthplace, school records, and Filipino relatives, among others issues.

With the lack of information, Hontiveros expressed concern that Guo represents possible infiltration in local politics of foreign nationals from China. 

24 Oras on May 13 went to Bamban and found that Guo only registered as a new voter in 2021, a few months before she filed her certificate of candidacy (COC) for mayor. According to the local Comelec office in the province, Guo registered as voter when she was 30 and presented a Philippine passport and bills she has received as proof of her residency. 

On May 14, 24 Oras examined Guo’s COC and campaign rallies. In an April 2022 campaign rally, Guo introduced herself to voters as a Filipino, born of a Filipino mother and a Chinese father. Her COC showed that she was a resident of Bamban for more than 18 years before running for office. Guo ran as an independent candidate against six others. She won with just around a 500-vote lead against the candidate on second place.

24 Oras also talked to people in barangay Virgen Delos Remedios where Guo claimed to have resided since early 2000. A neighbor and the current Baranggay chairman attested to having seen the Bamban mayor since she was young. 

TV Patrol, however, also interviewed some residents in Bamban who said they did not know Guo and that she just “magically appeared (biglang lumitaw)” when she ran during the 2022 elections. 

If proven that she lied in her COC, the Comelec told the media that Guo would be liable for perjury.

Comelec Chairperson George Garcia explained to the media that the poll body has the ministerial duty to accept certificates of candidacy (COCs). The Comelec presumes its content as factual until it receives a complaint seeking to cancel or disqualify the candidacy. Garcia said no formal petition was filed against Guo.

The Comelec is bound only by what is written in the electoral law and the constitution.  According to Bussiness Mirror, the  poll body had made previous attempts to add to the requirements for qualification of candidacies; but these were declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court because this added another qualification not stated in the Constitution. The report also referred to the 2008 provision in the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 mandating drug testing for all candidates for public office.

Garcia passed the responsibility to the voters in a message he sent to Business Mirror. The Comelec chairperson called the public to help the agency vet the candidates in future polls. He highlighted the voters’ important role in verifying the information declared by candidates in their COCs.

Since Guo was declared mayor of Bamban, the Comelec no longer has any jurisdiction over her case.

Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra told Philstar.com on May 16 that the Office of the Solicitor General is gathering information from several government agencies to find out if they can file a quo warranto petition against the mayor. 

Meanwhile, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., in an ambush interview in Cagayan de Oro City, alerted concern about Guo’s citizenship. In a Rappler report on May 16, the President claimed that “no one knows her” in political circles in Tarlac.

Refuting Marcos’ claim, Guo posted photos of her and Marcos on Facebook. Media reports noted that the photo was taken during the President’s inspection of the access road from the Clark City International Airport to Clark New City Access Road in Pampanga on February 20 which Guo also attended.The Philippine Daily Inquirer further checked the Bamban mayor’s official Facebook page and found that in March 2022, she met then-presidential candidate Marcos during the latter’s proclamation rally. Another photo showed them doing a fist bump.

Marcos, asked by the media on May 18 to comment on the “controversial photos,” said that those prove nothing as he never says no to people who ask him for photos.

Also on May 18, Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos told the media that the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) recommended to the Ombudsman the issuance of preventive suspension against Guo. Media reports highlighted the need for suspension to prevent Guo from acting in any way to influence the investigation of her case and her links to illegal POGO activities in Bamban. 

Meanwhile, in other news:

• Starting June 15, the China Coast Guard (CCG) announced it would implement Order No. 3 authorizing them to arrest and hold from 30 to 60 days foreigners suspected of illegally crossing China’s borders. Media noted that this came after the Atin Ito coalition held on May 16 a “peace and solidarity regatta” to deliver fuel and food to Filipino fishermen in the Scarborough Shoal. Reports echoed concerns of the Philippine Coast Guard about the CCG regulation. Several government officials expressed that the Philippines would not allow the arrest of Filipino fishermen inside the country’s exclusive economic zone (EZZ). They also called  on the  Association of South East Nations to file a petition in the United Nations to step in to demilitarize the South China Sea.  
  
  Former Associate Justice Antonio Carpio was quoted in reports saying the Philippines should invite partner states and other coastal states all over the world to “jointly or individually sail in the high seas and the EEZ of the South China Sea” to assert their objection to this new CCG directive, which clearly violates the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.