MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) is awaiting a court order to cancel the passport of dismissed Bamban mayor Alice Guo.
Sen. Risa Hontiveros on Tuesday called upon the DFA to cancel Guo’s passport. The opposition senator revealed in a plenary session that Guo had already left the country a month ago, leaving for Malaysia and Singapore.
This was further confirmed by the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission spokesperson Winston Casio, who confirmed Hontiveros’ claim that Guo went to Malaysia and later to Singapore in July. Casio also said that Guo went to Indonesia on August 18.
Hontiveros urged the DFA to cancel Guo’s passport.
“DFA, cancel Alice Guo’s PH passport. Dapat nung nakumpirma na pineke ang pagka-Pilipino, kinansela na agad ang pasaporte niya,” Hontiveros said in a Facebook post.
(DFA, cancel Alice Guo’s PH passport. When it was confirmed that she faked being Filipino, her passport should have been canceled.)
However, DFA Undersecretary Eduardo de Vega said that they need a court order to cancel Guo’s passport.
“We will cancel it upon court order,” De Vega told Philstar.com in a Viber message.
According to De Vega, the DFA could not cancel her passport upon the agency’s own volition unless the passport was acquired fraudulently.
Asked if the recent doubts cast upon Guo’s identity as a Filipino citizen are enough for the DFA to start verifying her passport, De Vega said that the ‘PSA (Philippine Statistics Authority) has not canceled the birth certificate.”
De Vega said that anyone could initiate the court case, whether a government entity or private citizen.
Authorities have been on the lookout for Guo following the Senate’s arrest warrant issued in July. Guo has become heavily affiliated with Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGO) in the country.
The dismissed mayor has been linked to human trafficking charges in a POGO compound in Bamban, which Guo used to own.
Be the first to comment