Senator Risa Hontiveros (left) and Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo. PHOTO FROM SENATE PRIB/FACEBOOK
MANILA, Philippines — Documents made public on Thursday show the possible link between Mayor Alice Guo of Bamban, Tarlac, and “Lin Wen Yi,” who is being surmised as the local official’s biological mother.
Sen. Risa Hontiveros made the papers known in a bid to illustrate Guo’s alleged ties to Lin Wen Yi, a Chinese national whom residents of Valenzuela could vouch to be the mayor’s mother as she was referred to as such when Guo’s family lived in the city, according to Senator Sherwin Gatchalian.
A Senate panel has been probing into the identity of Guo after her name appeared in several documents of a Tarlac, Bamban-based Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator raided by authorities in March over alleged human smuggling, among others.
“The identity of Mayor Alice’s mother is crucial to this whole saga. If her mother is Chinese, and her father is said to be Chinese, it can be proven that the Mayor is not really Filipino. If this is true, the bigger question is: why did she have to pretend? Why is there a need to hide and lie?” Hontiveros said in a statement in a mix of English and Filipino.
READ: Chinese listed in Guo’s firms may be her mom
Hontiveros shared with the media documents from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and Securities and Exchange Commission showing Mayor Alice Guo, her siblings Shiela and Siemen Guo, father Jian Zhong Guo, and a certain Lin Wen Yi as co-incorporators in at least seven businesses.
“Are they all related? Is this one big, dubious family business? As Senator Win also noted, travel records show that Jian Zhong Guo and Lin Wen Yi traveled together at least 170 times in the span of six years. Is she just a business partner or really the wife?” she asked.
Hontiveros said the BIR document also certified the birthdates and addresses of Guo’s incorporators.
Based on the BIR document, Lin Wen Yi’s birthdate is 1971.
Hontiveros said that if it is proven that Lin Wen Yi is the real mother of Guo, then it would mean that she gave birth at the age of 15.
“At kung siya din ang ina ni Shiela – na aminado si Alice na kapatid niya, aba 13 years old lang siya nung iniluwal si Shiela? Unless ito ay gawa-gawa lang lahat, kathang-isip ng isang sindikatong Tsino na pinahintulutan ng mga kawani ng gobyerno,” Hontiveros said.
(And if she’s also the mother of Shiela – who Alice admits to be her sibling, it means she’s only 13 when she gave birth to Sheila? Unless it’s all made up, a fabrication by a Chinese syndicate being sanctioned by government officials.)
READ: Alice Guo: A society of spectacles
Hontiveros then cited an unnamed source and said Guo’s mother is called Winnie. She asked if this is a “Filipino version” of Lin Wen Yi.
During a Senate panel hearing, Guo repeatedly denied being a spy of China and having ties with an offshore gaming firm, insisting that she grew up on a farm in Bamban, Tarlac, while her father raised hogs.
She also said that she stayed hidden most of her life because she was a love child of her father with their house helper. Guo cited a copy of an official birth certificate showing that the name of her mother is Amelia Leal.