MANILA (UPDATED) — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP) and the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) have agreed to support their party’s incumbent officials who are eligible for re-election in the 2025 midterm elections, but have yet to say if controversial Bamban Mayor Alice Guo would be included in that policy.

Guo — who is tagged in illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations in her municipality — became an NPC member in the third quarter of 2023 after winning the mayoralty race in Bamban as an independent candidate. 

“As far as the local landscape is concerned, the PFP and us and NPC, we have decided… that we will support in 2025 equity of the incumbent, NPC chairman Vicente Sotto III said.

“All incumbent local officials of NPC and PFP will be respected and they will be the official candidates of the parties,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the alliance signing of the two parties in Makati.

Guo — as well as her certificate of candidacy in the 2022 elections — became a controversial topic after the Bamban mayor failed to answer questions about basic personal details, including her birthplace and where she graduated from high school.

The Commission on Elections earlier said that Guo could be charged with perjury if found to have falsified her certificate of candidacy by claiming that she is a Filipino citizen.

When asked if Guo violated any bylaws of the NPC that may be the basis of her expulsion from the political party, Sotto said: “The problem is even if I am familiar with the bylaws of the party, I did not monitor the hearing. I just heard it, nabalitaan ko lang so mahirap mag-comment.”

“As of now there is no talk to that effect. We will cross the bridge when we get there,” he said.

“It doesn't necessarily mean that the chairman will endorse. The important thing is that the candidates, whoever he or she is, get the certificate of nomination of the party lalo na kung may alliance na ganito,” he said.

Sotto said he would leave the decision on what to do with Guo’s party membership to Tarlac Gov. Susan Yap, NPC’s provincial chairperson.

GUO’S ENTRY TO THE NPC

Yap said Guo was admitted to the NPC last year after the municipality of Bamban received a Seal of Good Local Governance (SGLG) award from the Department of the Interior and Local Government.

“She has proven that she works well. For the first time, the municipality has won as SGLG award,”  the governor told reporters in a separate interview.

“People love her so we welcomed her,” she said.

Yap said she only met Guo on a few occasions.

“The last time I saw her, she was crying. She was saying, ‘Natatakot ako. Siyempre iba yung Senado. Kaya ko bang harapin?’” the governor recalled.

“I said, ‘Just be truthful, prepare your documents.’”

Prior to her entry into the decades-old political party, Guo ran as an independent candidate with the endorsement of her predecessor. She defeated Joey Salting — the NPC’s mayoral candidate — by some 400 votes.

Yap said the provincial government of Tarlac is waiting for orders from the national government on how to handle the 37-year-old local chief executive.

“Ang directive ng provincial government is of course that goes through the courts. Hindi naman kami judges to judge her,” she told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Makati.

“DILG has not unseated her so I think we will wait for the directives from the national government,” she said.

On May 18, the DILG said it has recommended to the Ombudsman to suspend Guo as Bamban mayor to “prevent any influence on the continuing investigations” of different agencies.

Earlier this week, photos of Guo with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. resurfaced on social media after the chief executive backed calls to further investigate the Bamban mayor, saying there are many questions about who she is and where she came from.

Marcos Jr. shrugged off insinuations that he was acquainted with the Bamban Mayor, saying that the photos “prove nothing” as he never says no to anyone asking for selfies.

Marcos Jr. on selfies with controversial Bamban mayor: ‘That proves nothing’