MANILA — Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo still has a number of "inconsistencies"--that is according to Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, who said the most important matter to find out now is the mayor's true involvement in illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations (POGO).

This as the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) and the Solicitor General said they have opened investigations into Guo's background, and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. saying he sees the need to investigate the mayor along with POGOs in the area.

It appears that Guo, who was then a private citizen, applied for the license of a POGO, which later became the subject of a raid for cybercrimes.

"She said in the hearing that she owns Baofu Land. Baofu Land owns the 10-hectare land, and according to her, Baofu Land is the one who also put up the buildings. The first POGO company, Hong Sheng, is a lessee of that land. That was the first raid... because of cybercrimes like fraud... When we were looking at the documents, it was Alice Guo - at that time, she was not the mayor yet - who has the applicant for Hong Sheng," Gatchalian told ANC's Headstart Thursday.

"But in the hearing, we were surprised that she denied it. She denied that she has any connection to Hong Sheng, even though the Sanggunian resolution was named after her... All the documents were applied by Alice Guo during her time when she was a private citizen," he added.

In her Certificate of Candidacy (COC) for the 2022 elections, Guo declared that she is a Filipino citizen--a requirement for a public official.

But this does not match with the other documents that Gatchalian saw.

"There are a lot of inconsistencies... In her birth certificate, she declared or somebody declared that her father is Filipino and her mother is Filipino. But in the corporate papers that we saw - because they own various companies in which the father is also one of the corporators - the father's citizenship there is Chinese. So there's inconsistency between the birth certificate and also the incorporation papers," he said.

"As to the mother, Mayor Guo mentioned in the hearing that she doesn't know her mother... has no idea who her mother is. We're still locating documents pertaining to the mother, whether the mother is Filipino or Chinese. To this point, she is nonexistent because we don't know where she is. Mayor Guo, the daughter, doesn't even know where she is as well," he added.

Based on what Guo wrote in the COC, she started living in Bamban around 2004 when she was almost 18 years old.

Coming from the dates, it is possible that the mayor did not grow up in Bamban where she registered her birth in 2003.

Like some residents of Bamban, the chairperson of Brgy. Virgen Delos Remedios--where Guo is registered-- said he had been seeing the then-young Guo in their locality.

Arnold Patawaran recalled their interactions when the mayor was still around 17.

He added that she also knew how to speak Kapampangan, a language spoken in Central Luzon, including Tarlac.

"Since 2005 siguro mga nasa dalagita na si Maam Alice nakikita ko na yan. Tapos nung 2008 nakakausap ko na yan dahil kagawad na ako nun. May poultry siya diyan...inaasikaso niya yung dokumento kaya yun nakakausap ko na siya," he told ABS-CBN News.

(Since around 2005, I've probably seen Ma'am Alice when she was still a young woman. Then by 2008, I was able to converse with her because I was already a barangay councilor back then. She had a poultry business there... she was taking care of the documents, so that's why I was able to talk to her.)

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) reiterated that they had no reason to deny the acceptance of the mayor's COC since there was no opposition to her registration or candidacy.

"Hanggang sa matapos ang halalan at naiproklama siya, wala kaming natanggap na election protest o petition for quo warranto na maaaring magkwestyon sa kanyang pagkakahalal pati na rin muli sa kanyang qualification," Comelec spokesperson Atty. John Rex Laudiangco said Wednesday in a televised interview.

(Until the end of the election and Guo was proclaimed, we received no election protest or petition for quo warranto that would question her legitimacy and qualification.)

Laudiangco explained that Guo can still face misrepresentation or providing false information charges if proven that she lied in her COC, which was under oath - but this should be filed in a regular court.

FACT-FINDING PROBE

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Thursday said they have submitted Guo's birth record for investigation, amid a fact-finding probe in some local civil registry offices on alleged late registration of foreign nationals.

"Kami rin po ay nagco-coordinate na sa local kung ano iyong mga requirements na sinubmit for the delayed registration, sino yung mga tao na involved sa delayed registration," PSA's Assistant National Statistician Marizza Grande told Teleradyo Serbisyo.

(We are coordinating with the local branch to find out what requirements were submitted for Guo's delayed registration and who are those involved.)

Guo's birth certificate is also at risk of being cancelled if it is proven that she misdeclared herself as a Filipino citizen, Grande said.

"Kung walang pagpapatunay ng kanyang identity na Filipino, dun makukuwestyon yung implication bilang siya ay isang opisyal ng ating gobyerno... Question kasi dito ay ang kanyang pagiging Filipino, so ang kanyang valid identity na magpapatunay ay ang kanyang birth certificate," she added.

(If there is no proof for her Filipino identity, the implication would put into question her being a government official. The question here is her being Filipino, so the valid proof for her identity woud be her birth certificate.)

'SUSPEND GUO'

For Gatchalian, due to possible links to illegal POGO and doubts on her citizenship, Guo should be suspended.

"It's the DILG who should supervise local officials but admittedly, mayors have a lot of latitude and a lot of powers. They are elected there to look after public welfare of their locality," he said.

"There should be a sense of urgency in terms of investigating and fact finding by the DILG and if they are saying they don't have that power, it's only the Ombudsman who suspends, then they should already file it in request for immediate suspension," he added.

Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra has formed a special team to determine if Guo's exercise of public office is unlawful.

"I created a special team of solicitors last week to look into the matter and determine if there is good reason to believe that the subject is unlawfully holding or exercising a public office," he told ABS-CBN News in a text message.

"If it could be established by proof, the OSG (Office of the Solicitor General) will commence quo warranto proceedings to oust the person concerned. For now we are gathering relevant information from the Comelec, DILG, DepEd, PSA, BI, and other government agencies"

Lawmaker Bienvenido Abante Jr. supports this.

"Alam mo malaking garapalan na ito eh. Itong Bamban Mayor Alice Guo sa kanyang mga sagot, tingnan natin maigi kung talagang Pilipino ito. Alam ninyo hindi siya dapat maging mayor kung hindi mapatunayang Pilipino siya, dapat lamang na tanggalin na ito bilang mayor," the Manila 6th District representative said.

(This is already very brazen. We should scrutinize this Bamban Mayor Alice Guo based on her answers if she truly is Filipino. She should not be mayor if it cannot be proven that she is Filipino--she should be removed from office.)

But ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro cautioned the issue should not lead to sinophobia or fear or intense hatred towards those from China--but criminals and foreigners who violate the law should be punished.

POGO BAN

Some lawmakers once again called on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to ban POGOs in the country.

Gatchalian said this is to also stop creating what he called "underground" and "illegal communities".

Speaking to reporters in Cagayan De Oro City Thursday, Marcos admitted they have long been investigating the POGO in Bamban.

The president added that Mayor Guo should also be included in the government's probe into the illegal operations.

"Dahil kilala ko lahat ang mga taga-Tarlac, pero maraming hindi nakakakilala sa kanya, saan nanggaling ito, bakit nagkaganito. Hindi namin malaman, kaya kailangan imbestigahan. So kasabay noong sa Bureau of Immigration, pati siguro ikukuwestyon ng citizenship, doon lahat iimbestigahan natin, kasama ang ibang ahensya," he said.

(I know all those from Tarlac, but many do not know her, where she came from, how it happened. We do not know, that's why we need to investigate. With the Bureau of Immigration, as well as the question of citizenship, we will investigate all that along with other agencies.

Marcos said that doing this would avoid incidents of foreign nationals illegally entering the country--a problem, he said, that may have been caused by being slack, not vigilant enough, or even people being paid off.

ABS-CBN News has been trying to get Guo's side for days now - but she has yet to have a public appearance. --With reports from Willard Cheng and Vivienne Gulla, ABS-CBN News