Dismissed Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo attends Senate hearing. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News/File

MANILA — Dismissed Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo said Tuesday she would no longer seek reelection in the 2025 polls.

Her lawyer Stephen David had said that Guo would file her candidacy this week through a representative, insisting that his client could still seek reelection unless she was barred by a court. 

But Guo told senators during the resumption of the Senate hearing into her and illegal gaming hubs that she was dropping her reelection bid and would first face the accusations against her. 

"Linisin ko po muna 'yung sarili ko po at para maging fair din po para sa mga constituents ko," she said.

Guo is facing graft, qualified human trafficking, money laundering, and tax evasion charges related to her alleged involvement in illegal gambling hubs.

The filing of certificates of candidacy for next year's midterm polls ends Tuesday.

The Ombudsman in August dismissed Guo for grave misconduct and banned her from reentering government service. 

David had said that Guo could still run for reelection unless a court says otherwise.

Commission on Elections Chairperson George Erwin Garcia said Monday that it could disqualify candidates previously dismissed from duty by the Office of the Ombudsman.

READ: Alice Guo may be disqualified from Bamban mayoral race: Comelec

COMELEC ORDERS RAPS VS GUO

On Tuesday, the poll body's en banc approved its law department's recommendation to charge Guo before the proper Regional Trial Court for allegedly violating Section 74, in relation to Section 262, of the Omnibus Election Code.

Section 74 orders candidates running for office to be truthful in filing their certificates of candidacy, including their nationality, among other things.

The National Bureau of Investigation earlier said Guo's fingerprints match those of Chinese national Guo Hua Ping.

The Comelec previously said that its own fingerprint analysis of Guo gave them a basis to file a material misrepresentation complaint against her.

READ: Guo a confirmed spy whose campaign was supported by China's state security — video

Election lawyer Romulo Macalintal on Tuesday argued that the poll body's power to cancel a certificate of candidacy was "limited to final conviction in criminal cases with the accessory penalty of perpetual disqualification and was never applied to administrative cases decided by the Ombudsman while pending appeal."

"While decisions of the Ombudsman may be executory, the accessory penalty of perpetual disqualification is not yet final when the dismissed public official appeals the Ombudsman decision to the Court of Appeals," he said.

"In other words, pending appeal, the accessory penalty of perpetual disqualification is not yet imposable and could not yet be enforced."

Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission spokesperson Winston Casio welcomed Guo’s decision.

Casio said Guo should instead face her cases arising from her supposed involvement in POGOs.

“Hayaan naming umusad ang kaso, harapin niya yung mga kaso, kami naman, yung effort lang namin, magpresenta ng maayos sa kaso. Pero as far as we are concerned we are happy for the fact that she did not file because at least hindi na ulit magbababoy yung proseso natin,” Casio said.

“Kasi kami, we are 101 percent sure that she is not a Filipino and no foreign national must be allowed to take part in our electoral process,” Casio said.

— With reports from Sherrie Ann Torres and Adrian Ayalin, ABS-CBN News