MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) launched its investigation into the 2022 candidacy of suspended Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo, amid damning allegations of stolen identity.
Comelec Chairman George Garcia directed the poll body’s law department to create a fact-finding committee to lead the probe into the local chief executive’s candidacy papers.
Guo declared in her certificate of candidacy for the 2022 polls that she is a Filipino citizen born in Tarlac, but the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has found that the mayor’s fingerprints matched with those of Guo Hua Ping, who arrived in the Philippines from China in 2003.
“The committee shall determine whether there was material misrepresentation in her certificate of candidacy which would warrant the filing of an election offense case,” read Garcia’s memo dated Saturday, July 6, released to the media on Monday, July 8.
He tasked that fact-finding panel to coordinate with the Senate committee on women, children, family relations, and gender equality, NBI, and the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) in gathering evidence.
“You may likewise direct the conduct of technical analysis of documents containing fingerprints of registered voters which bear the name Alice Guo, to determine her culpability, if any, and recommend to the commission en banc the filing of a case if evidence warrants,” Garcia added.
The OSG has already filed a petition with a Tarlac court seeking to cancel Guo’s birth certificate.
It is also planning to slap her with a quo warranto petition, a special civil action that seeks to unseat someone who holds public office unlawfully.
Guo has been thrust into the national spotlight after a Senate investigation into Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) linked her to a POGO hub in her hometown.
Since then, she has been on the receiving end of allegations that she is a Chinese spy tasked to infiltrate local politics in the Philippines.
Guo has denied this, as well as allegations of involvement in money laundering, human trafficking, and kidnapping schemes. – Rappler.com