Alice Guo replaced by councilor as Tarlac town mayor 

FILE PHOTO: Bamban Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo appears before the Senate as Sen. Risa Hontiveros flagged Guo’s alleged ties to Chinese “criminals” during a Senate hearing on May 22, 2024. Guo was replaced by a councilor as mayor of Bamban town in Tarlac, following her expulsion for alleged links to the Philippine offshore gaming operator (Pogo). Interior Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. said in an ambush interview Wednesday, August 14, 2024, that Erano Timbang will take the post of Guo temporarily. INQUIRER/ MARIANNE BERMUDEZ

MANILA, Philippines — A councilor will serve as an acting mayor of Bamban town in Tarlac, following the expulsion of Alice Guo, the town’s former local chief executive, over her alleged links to the Philippine offshore gaming operator (Pogo).

Interior Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. said in an ambush interview Wednesday that Erano Timbang will take the post of Guo temporarily, and explained that Bamban Vice Mayor Leonardo Anunciacion, the next in line of succession, was suspended by the Office of the Ombudsman for three months.

READ: Ombudsman orders dismissal of Alice Guo over Pogo links

The Ombudsman likewise suspended for three months nine other municipal councilors.

“We should follow the succession,” Abalos said, noting that Timbang is next in line after the suspension of the vice mayor and town councilors.

Timbang, the only councilor left in the municipal council, is also the sole councilor who had a “difference of opinion” about the granting of permit to the Pogo in the town, according to Abalos.

“He is the only one who opposed [the Pogo permit], so he was absolved by the Ombudsman,” Abalos said.

Timbang will take his oath as Bamban mayor at Camp Crame in Quezon City on Wednesday afternoon, the interior secretary added.

The Ombudsman, in a 25-page order released to the media on Tuesday, said Guo was found guilty of grave misconduct, which merited “dismissal from service with forfeiture of all her retirement benefits and perpetual disqualification to re-enter government service.”

In an order dated May 31, the Ombudsman suspended Guo, prompting Anunciacion to serve as an acting mayor until his suspension.

The suspended vice mayor will assume the mayoralty post after three months.