MANILA, Philippines — The case of embattled Bamban Mayor Alice Guo has gotten even more confusing after her supposed birth parents, as stated on her birth certificate, may not even exist.
Senator Risa Hontiveros disclosed this possibility after revealing that the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) does not have Alice’s parents’ marriage or birth records.
“Noong pinacheck ko po, walang record ng kasal itong si Angelito Guo at Amelia, ang higit pang malala, walang birth record at all si Angelito Guo at Amelia,” said Hontiveros during a Senate panel on women hearing, which she chairs.
(When I checked, Angelito Guo and Amelia had no marriage record; worse, they had no birth record at all.)
“So maitatanong talaga, hindi po kaya, Angelito Guo and Amelia Leal Guo don’t even exist? Itong dalawang taong ito na according to the documentary evidence, have three children na according naman to you only have one child, apparently do not even exist?” she added.
(So it can be asked, is it possible that Angelito Guo and Amelia Leal Guo don’t even exist? These two people who, according to the documentary evidence, have three children, then according to you, only have one child, apparently do not even exist?)
READ: The peculiar case of Alice Guo
Alice’s birth certificate identifies Angelito Guo, the Filipino name of Jian Zhong Guo, as her biological father and Amelia Leal as her biological mother.
Alice initially claimed that she was the only child of her parents. Still, birth certificates of a certain Shiela Leal Guo and Seimen Leal Guo also listed Angelito and Amelia as biological parents.
During the May 22 hearing, Alice admitted that Shiela and Seimen were, indeed, her siblings.
To make things even more confusing, Angelito and Amelia’s date of marriage was listed as “October 14, 1962” in Alice and Shiela’s records, while on Seimen’s, it was declared “January 21, 1967.”
Hontiveros also pointed out that her father’s citizenship was declared Filipino in their birth certificate when Alice admitted that her father was Chinese and a Chinese passport holder.
Asked why that is, Alice, once again, responded: “Hindi ko po alam” (I don’t know) and that she was not the one who prepared her birth certificate.
“Your birth certificate is riddled with holes, and if your birth certificate is the basis of your citizenship, so pati po ‘yung citizenship niyo ay riddled with holes (then your citizenship is also riddled with holes)?” Hontiveros said.
Hontiveros explained that under the 1973 Constitution, which was the prevailing Constitution during Alice’s birth, a child can only be declared Filipino if one of her parents is a Filipino.
“Pero itong Amelia Leal, whoever she is, kasambahay ba o nanay niyong tatlo, is a person with no birth record, so how can you derive citizenship from a woman whose very existence is questionable?” Hontiveros said.
(But this Amelia Leal, whoever she is, is the maid or mother of the three of you, and she has no birth record, so how can you derive citizenship from a woman whose very existence is questionable?)
READ: Alice Guo: ‘I will not resign’ as Bamban mayor