Bamban Mayor Alice Guo | PHOTO: Official facebook page Sen. Risa Hontiveros
MANILA, Philippines — Interior Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. said on Monday that he has already instructed the National Police Commission (Napolcom) to revoke Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo’s deputization or control and supervision of the town’s police force.
Under the Napolcom Memorandum Circular No. 99-010, elected governors and mayors “are automatically deputized as representatives of the Commission” in their respective areas. As Napolcom deputies, the memorandum circular stated that mayors are given the power to supervise and control police units in cities or provinces they handle and directly employ and deploy units or PNP elements, among others.
Abalos said he ordered Napolcom to withdraw Guo’s deputization pending an ongoing investigation into her alleged connection to a Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (Pogo) in the province.
READ: DILG recommends preventive suspension of Bamban Mayor Alice Guo
“Ang gagawin namin ngayon ay, I have instructed Napolcom to initiate proceedings for the withdrawal of the mayor’s (Guo) deputization,” the chief of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said.
(We will now do what I instructed Napolcom to do: initiate proceedings to withdraw the mayor’s [Guo] deputization.)
He added that if the investigation showed that Napolcom had sufficient grounds to issue the order, Guo’s deputization, including her control and supervision of the local police, would be immediately revoked.
Before this, Abalos announced that the agency recommended the preventive suspension of the mayor before the Office of the Ombudsman. He explained that this is to “prevent any influence on the continuing investigations of our and other agencies.”
Abalos said the seven-man DILG task force created to investigate Guo’s reported ties to Pogo has already submitted their report, which contains “troubling findings of serious illegal acts which may have severe legal implications.”
The Senate is currently investigating Guo over the possibility that she is a Chinese “asset” trained to infiltrate the Philippine government.