EXPLAINER: Alice Guo’s lies, according to PH gov’t top lawyer

Metro Manila, Philippines – Lies after lies.

From citizenship to family records, Alice Guo repeatedly made “misrepresentations” that would warrant her ouster as mayor of Bamban, Tarlac, according to the Office of the Solicitor General.

Congressional hearings have questioned Guo’s citizenship amid allegations she could be a Chinese spy. The Omnibus Election Code states that “an elective local official must be a citizen of the Philippines.”

In June, the Office of the Ombudsman imposed a preventive suspension on Guo over her alleged involvement in an illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator in her locality.

While denying all accusations, she defied a standing subpoena and arrest warrant to testify at the Senate.

On Monday, July 29, the OSG, which is the top government lawyer, filed before the Manila Regional Trial Court a quo warranto petition against Guo. It seeks her ouster from public office and the nullification of her proclamation as mayor in 2022.

Here’s why.

+ “Guo Hua Ping is a Chinese national and has, for years now, been posing as a certain Alice Leal Guo.”

Guo Hua Ping holds a Chinese passport which states that she was born in China’s coastal Fujian province on Aug. 31, 1990, the OSG said in its 45-page petition.

She arrived in the Philippines for the first time on July 12, 1999, according to the Bureau of Immigration’s Certification and List of Travel Records.

Fast forward to June 2024, the National Bureau of Investigation conducted an analysis comparing the fingerprint affixed by Guo Hua Ping on her Alien Fingerprint Card and that of the embattled mayor. This led to the NBI’s conclusion that they are one and the same person.

“Because of the findings made by this committee most especially with the testimony of the NBI… the job of the OSG consolidating everything and come up with a solid petition for quo warranto was accomplished,” Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra said.

He made this pronouncement in a hearing of the Senate committee on women, children, family relations and gender equality, led by opposition Senator Risa Hontiveros.

+ “Guo Hua Ping’s purported Filipino parents have a negative record of birth, marriage, and death.”

Guo’s Certificate of Live Birth lists two Filipinos as her parents: Amelia Leal and Angelito Guo, who was 27 at the time of her birth, according to the document.

However, the Philippine Statistics Authority clarified that these two names do not exist in their records. There’s no record of their birth, marriage, and even death, the OSG said.

The Department of Foreign Affairs said it never issued passports to these people.

“Nonetheless, these negative certifications, coupled with the documents showing that respondent Guo Hua Ping’s parents are Chinese nationals Guo Jian Zhong and Lin Wenyi, point to the fact that Angelito Guo and Amelia Leal Guo are fictitious individuals created for the sole purpose of falsifying respondent Guo Hua Ping’s birth records,” the OSG petition read.

+ “Guo Hua Ping is not a Filipino citizen by birth or by naturalization.”

Records from the PSA, the Local Civil Registrar in Tarlac, and the DFA show that Guo “claims to be a Filipino citizen by birth,” the OSG said.

Guo also maintained under oath during Senate hearings that she is a Filipino citizen.

However, the OSG said there is no evidence proving the Filipino citizenship of Guo or her parents “other than her Certificate of Live Birth which is riddled with incomplete, if not false information.”

The Special Committee on Naturalization said Guo and her parents never filed a petition for naturalization and never acquired Filipino citizenship.

What now?

The OSG has four requests to the Manila court:

+ declare Guo as ineligible to hold the office of mayor of Bamban, Tarlac

+ declare that Guo committed acts that warrant her forfeiture of the mayor’s office

+ nullify Guo’s proclamation as mayor

+ oust Guo from her mayoral post

“Respondent Guo Hua Ping, due to her ineligibility, is usurping or otherwise unlawfully holding the position and illegally exercising the duties and responsibilities of the office of the mayor of Bamban, Tarlac,” the OSG said.

Apart from misrepresentations about her citizenship, Guo also committed multiple acts of serious dishonesty by failing to “truthfully provide answers to questions” posed in the Senate’s hearings, the OSG said.

It said Guo claimed to have received contributions for her mayoral campaign in 2022, but there were no such documents submitted to the Commission on Elections.

“Such actions constitute grave violation of the laws of the land, warranting her immediate ouster and disqualification from holding any public office,” it added.

The NBI reported that Guo was last seen in Bulacan before the Senate issued an arrest warrant on July 13. Authorities investigated the site of the reported sighting but failed to locate her. Immigration officials believe she remains in the country, as there is no record of her leaving the country.