MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine government has filed an application with a local court to unseat Alice Guo or Guo Ha Ping as mayor of Bamban, Tarlac because “she is not a Filipino citizen but a Chinese national.”
The Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) filed a quo warranto petition on Monday, July 29, before the Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) seeking to “declare as null and void” Guo’s 2022 proclamation as Bamban mayor.
Guo is embroiled in the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) scandal for being co-owner of the real estate firm Baofu. Baofu leased its compound in Bamban to the shady POGO Hongsheng/Zun Yuan, which was found to have trafficked and tortured workers in a scam hub operation. Guo divested from Baofu when she ran, and then won as mayor of Bamban in 2022.
The OSG’s petition cites earlier evidence that Guo is the Chinese Guo Ha Ping who holds a Chinese passport, and appears in Philippine government’s visa application records as the daughter of two Chinese citizens Lin Wenyi and Guo Jian Zhong. Guo Ha Ping is registered in Philippine immigration records as having arrived in the Philippines in 1999 as a 9-year-old, contrary to her earlier testimony in the Senate that she was born here and grew up in a farm.
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has also confirmed that the fingerprints on Guo Ha Ping’s records match Alice Guo’s fingerprints. “Even international law enforcement authorities use fingerprint identification, given that no two individuals, not even identical twins, have the same fingerprints. Neither do fingerprints change, even as an individual gets older, unless the deeper “basal” layer is destroyed or intentionally changed by plastic surgery,” said the OSG’s petition.
“Guo Hua Ping is not a Filipino citizen by birth or by naturalization,” said the OSG.
In the Philippines, the citizenship of the child follows the citizenship of the parents regardless if they were born in the country. This is the jus sanguinis principle, as opposed to other countries like the United States which follows jus soli or citizenship in the place where they were born.
“There is no factual basis to support respondent Guo Hua Ping’s Filipino citizenship. The inevitable conclusion that follows is that she is not a Filipino citizen, a mandatory requirement under Section 39 of [the local government code]. Thus, respondent Guo Hua Ping is illegally holding her position and must be ousted therefrom,” said the petition.
Quo warranto is a unique proceeding in the rules of court to unseat someone from public office on the basis of, among others, unlawful occupation. This was the same petition used to oust former chief justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, although Sereno’s was controversial because she was an impeachable official.
The OSG also earlier applied to cancel Guo’s Filipino birth certificate, based on irregular procedures to obtain a late registration. When the birth certificate is canceled, it would essentially remove Guo’s Filipino citizenship, and having no status in the Philippines, a deportation may follow after. But Philippine government officials said they would keep Guo in the Philippines to stand trial for the complaints filed against her.
There is currently a qualified trafficking complaint against Guo filed at the Department of Justice (DOJ). There is no court-issued warrant of arrest on that complaint yet. Guo has so far evaded the Senate-issued warrant of arrest for contempt.
The quo warranto proceeding would give Guo a chance to present her side to the court.
“You may be able to hide now, but you will not be able to hide forever,” said Senator Risa Hontiveros on Monday as the Senate continued its POGO inquiry. – Rappler.com
