MANILA, Philippines — The mayor of Bamban, Tarlac province, Alice Guo, is at the center of a dispute over the illegal Philippine offshore gaming operator (Pogo) in her town. Senator Sherwin “Win” Gatchalian revealed what he believed to be potential proof of Guo’s true identity on Tuesday.
Gatchalian stated that, in contrast to Guo’s assertion, he received proof from the Bureau of Immigration and the Board of Investments to bolster concerns that she was not a Filipino national.
He disclosed that on January 12, 2003, a particular Guo Hua Ping, a Chinese national, entered the nation according to a copy of a special investor’s resident visa (SIRV). The paper, which the senator showed Senate reporters, included an image of a young woman that, in his words, showed a striking resemblance to the controversial mayor of Bamban.
“Her real birth date is August 31, 1990. Alice Guo might be Guo Hua Ping, who entered the Philippines on January 12, 2003, when she was 13 years old,” he wrote in a Viber chat.
The senator stated that Guo’s family submitted the SIRV application. “Lin Wenyi is Guo Hua Ping’s registered mother under the SIRV,” he continued.
Gatchalian had speculated that Lin, a Chinese national, might be her biological mother because her name was included as an incorporator of multiple businesses that Guo’s family held.
In addition, the senator was able to obtain a photocopy of Guo’s Chinese passport. It revealed that the passport’s owner was a female student who was born on August 31, 1990, in Fujian, China. The passport featured a picture of a somewhat younger Guo and was issued in Fujian on April 3, 1999.
Referring to the legal action that the Office of the Solicitor General might take against Guo to nullify her election as mayor, Gatchalian stated, “This would bolster the quo warranto case against her.”
Any allegations that Guo was a Chinese “asset” with the ability to penetrate and influence the Philippine government have already been denied by her. That being said, she acknowledged in a Senate hearing that her father, Jian Zhong Guo, a native of Fujian and a Chinese national who subsequently went by the Filipino name Angelito.
There have been rumors regarding the mayor’s true identity because of her frequently inconsistent responses to straightforward inquiries about her upbringing and personal history, which she had adorned with details common to TV soap operas.
Guo had asserted on numerous occasions that she was the love child of her father and his ex-housekeeper, Amelia Leal, who had allegedly deserted her not long after her 1986 birth. But according to Guo’s birth certificate, which was produced by her parents, who were married, and who had two other siblings, Senator Risa Hontiveros, who has been heading the Senate investigation into Pogos’s illegal acts, pointed out.
The senators were then informed by a Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) officer that Guo had a third sibling whose birth was also filed late. Additionally, since there were no records of Leal’s existence, the PSA said there was a “high” chance that her identity was made up. The agency also observed that Guo’s alleged parents had no marriage license.
