MANILA – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is set to investigate the candidacy of suspended Bamban, Tarlac mayor Alice Guo in the May 2022 national elections.
According to Comelec chairperson George Erwin Garcia, the poll body has formed a fact-finding committee to determine whether there was material misrepresentation in Guo’s certificate of candidacy (COC).
He cited “public interest” in pursuing the investigation.
Garcia directed the committee to coordinate with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Office of the Solicitor General and Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality for more information on the case.
“The panel will also conduct a technical analysis of documents containing fingerprints of registered voters, which bear the name Alice Guo, to determine her culpability, if any,” he added. “It shall recommend to the Commission En Banc the filing of a case if evidence warrants.”
The NBI previously reported that Guo’s fingerprints matched that of a certain Guo Hua Ping, a Chinese who entered the Philippines in 2003 when she was only 13 years old.
Guo may face an election offense case if she was found to have made false claims in her COC for the 2022 elections, where she declared Tarlac, Tarlac as her place of birth and that she has been living in the country for 35 years and two months at the time of filing.
The identity of Guo was put in question as she claimed in a Senate hearing that she has forgotten or has no knowledge of her personal details like her place of birth and name of school attended.
Guo only has a certificate of live birth, wherein it was declared that her father is a Filipino, but her father’s business records show that he declared that he is a Chinese national.
Additionally, Guo only registered as a voter in 2021 and won the mayoral election in Bambam town in Tarlac in 2022 despite having no background in politics.
Guo is being questioned for alleged involvement in an illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operation (POGO) hub in Baofu compound, which is located in Bambam, Tarlac./PN
