Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo —Marianne Bermudez
MANILA, Philippines — A Chinese national whose name appeared as an incorporator of several companies owned by Alice Guo’s family could be her biological mother—information offered by Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian that might help untangle the Bamban, Tarlac mayor’s puzzling identity.
Gatchalian said on Wednesday that former employees of QJJ Embroidery Center, which operated and maintained a warehouse in Valenzuela City, knew a certain Lin Wenyi to be Guo’s mother. Gatchalian was the city’s mayor for nine years.
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“[Lin] was introduced as [Guo’s] mother to their [former employees] in Valenzuela,” Gatchalian told reporters, adding that he had also asked people in the area in Valenzuela City where Guo’s family supposedly resided. The senator earlier found out that, by some coincidence, he and the Guos lived on the same street.
“Her name was consistently included in their family’s businesses. So my personal assessment is that she might be the biological mother of Alice Guo,” Gatchalian added.
He said that records from the Bureau of Immigration also showed that Lin had frequently traveled to China with Guo’s father, Jian Zhong Guo, a Chinese citizen who later used Angelito Guo as his Filipino name.
“When we looked at the travel records of her father and Wenyi, they traveled 170 times in a span of six years. So they frequently traveled as a couple,” Gatchalian said.
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Serious implications
Should Lin turn out to be Guo’s birth mother, this may have serious implications on the Bamban mayor’s eligibility as an elected government official, he pointed out.
“Obviously, [Guo] will be a Chinese national, right? She’s Chinese because, in our system, we follow the bloodline to determine [your citizenship]. Your nationality will be the nationality of your parents,” Gatchalian said.
Guo has repeatedly claimed to be the love child of her father and his former housekeeper, a certain Amelia Leal, who supposedly abandoned her as soon as she was born in 1986.
However, Sen. Risa Hontiveros, who has been leading the investigation into the illegal activities of Philippine offshore gaming operators in Bamban, showed that Guo’s birth certificate actually indicated that her parents were married and had three other children who were born after her.
Fictitious person?
Philippine Statistics Authority Director Eliezer Ambatali earlier said there was a “high” possibility that Leal’s identity was fictitious as there were no records of her existence.
Ambatali also said there was no marriage record for Guo’s supposed parents.
In its certificate of incorporation from the Securities and Exchange Commission, QJJ Farms Inc. listed Guo, her father, Lin, as well as the Bamban mayor’s siblings, Shiela Leal Guo and Seimen Leal Guo, as shareholders.
The Guos declared their address as 58 T. Santiago St. in Canumay, Valenzuela City, which Gatchalian said was just a few houses away from his family’s residence.
Lin, on the other hand, claimed that she was a resident of Filipiniana Street in Dau, Mabalacat, Pampanga province.
Gatchalian noted that after initially claiming that she did not know Sheila and Siemen, Guo admitted that they were her siblings during the May 22 Senate hearing.
It turned out, he added, that Sheila was actually the chief financial officer and treasurer of their companies while Guo served as president.
“It’s impossible that the president of a family business did not know their chief financial officer and treasurer. They know each other, as corroborated by the flight records showing that they also traveled together. On that alone, she’s lying,” Gatchalian said.