OSG: Quo warranto petition, another case to be filed vs Guo

Suspended Bamban Mayor Alice Guo —Marianne Bermudez

MANILA, Philippines — Aside from a quo warranto case, the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) will also file another petition against suspended Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo, within the week.

“We’re just waiting for certified copies of our documentary evidence from official sources,” Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra told the Inquirer on Tuesday. He did not give additional details.

Under the Rules of Court, a quo warranto petition is an action taken against a person who “usurps, intrudes into, or unlawfully holds or exercises a public office, position or franchise.”

READ: Alice Guo may also face raps for election-related offenses – Comelec

According to Guevarra, the case may be filed before a regional trial court, the Court of Appeals, or the Supreme Court. He earlier said the quo warranto petition against Guo would be filed within the month.

Last week, the National Bureau of Investigation revealed that Guo’s fingerprints matched those of Chinese passport holder Guo Hua Ping, who, according to Sen. Risa Hontiveros, entered the Philippines in 2003 as a 13-year-old using a special investor resident visa.

READ: Guo can be star witness, expose Pogos ‘to reduce her culpability’ – Gatchalian

The NBI based its findings on a comparative examination between Guo Hua Ping’s fingerprints on her 2006 alien fingerprint card and Guo’s fingerprints in her 2021 biometric printout.

Guevarra earlier said the NBI’s confirmation would be “extremely useful” in the legal actions they were working on but added that they still needed to tie it up with other existing evidence “to come up with a cohesive picture.”

Guo has been under scrutiny for her alleged ties with the operations of an illegal Philippine offshore gaming operator (Pogo) hub in her town.

On June 21, the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission filed a qualified trafficking charge against her and 13 others over their alleged involvement in a “grand conspiracy” to commit labor trafficking of around 500 foreign Pogo workers rescued during a raid in March.

Questions were first raised about Guo’s citizenship during a Senate inquiry after Hontiveros noted that her birth was registered only in 2013, or 17 years after she was supposedly born in 1986.

Her baffling responses to senators’ questions prompted speculation that she was a “Chinese asset” sent to infiltrate the government.

Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, meanwhile, asked Guo to come clean and identify the big bosses of Pogos involved in criminal activities in the country.

“Guo can play a crucial role in exposing the truth and ensuring that those involved are held accountable,” he said in a statement.

“I urge [her] to come forward and cooperate with authorities and expose the main players of illegal and criminal offshore gaming operations,” he said, adding that in doing so, Guo can “reduce her culpability.” —with a report from Marlon Ramos