(UPDATES) THE Office of the Ombudsman has ordered the dismissal of Alice Guo as mayor of Bamban, Tarlac, finding her guilty of grave misconduct, in a decision approved Monday by Ombudsman Samuel Martires.
“Guo’s purchase of individual agricultural lots and consolidating and having them reclassified as residential and commercial lots; to the formation of Baofu, Hongsheng, and Zun Yuan; to throwing her hat in the mayoralty race, all point to the fact that she carefully planned, orchestrated and masterminded the POGO (Philippine offshore gaming operator) operations in Bamban, Tarlac,” the decision said.
Alice Guo holds her proclamation document after winning the elections in Bamban, Tarlac. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
The Ombudsman said Guo’s acts, such as her involvement in the raided POGO hub in Bamban, showed a “willful intent on her part to violate the law or disregard established rules.”
“The series of acts are interconnected, leaving no other conclusion than that they were committed by Guo with ulterior motive or self-interest,” the decision read.
The penalty of dismissal comes with forfeiture of retirement benefits and perpetual disqualification from government service.
If the penalty of dismissal can no longer be enforced, it can be turned into a fine equal to Guo’s salary for one year.
“It shall be understood that the accessory penalties attached to the principal penalty of dismissal shall continue to be imposed,” the decision read.
In the same decision, the Office of the Ombudsman ordered the three-month suspension of the following as it found them guilty of conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service: Business Permit and Licensing Officer Edwin Campo, Municipal Legal Officer Adenn Sigua, Leonardo Anunciacion, Johny Sales, Jayson Galang, Nikko Balilo, Ernesto Salting, Jose Salting Jr., Robin Mangiliman, Jose Casmo Aguilar, Mary Andrei Lacsamana, and Ranier Rivera.
If the suspension can no longer be enforced, it can be turned into a fine equivalent to their salary for three months.
Meanwhile, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) issued Guo a subpoena directing her to personally appear before the Comelec Law Department for the preliminary investigation of the material misrepresentation case filed against her.
The subpoena was served by Elmo Duque, assistant regional election director, Comelec Region 3, and was received by Alice Manaloto, the secretary of Guo, who has gone into hiding.
Duque said the subpoena was first served at Guo’s residence, as declared in her certificate of candidacy (CoC), but she was not there. A copy of the subpoena was also received by an unidentified caretaker.
“To satisfy the process to inform her (Guo) of the existence of a preliminary investigation to determine probable cause against her, we went to her office as she is a public official. We served [the subpoena] to a competent person in charge of her office, Ms. Manalot. She received it, and therefore, at that moment, we have served the subpoena,” Duque said.
Duque said it does not matter whether Guo would acknowledge or not the receipt of the subpoena, saying that it was received by a competent person working in her office, which is in compliance with the provision of law.
The next move, Duque added, is for the suspended mayor to personally appear at the Comelec office and submit her counter-affidavit within 10 days of receiving the order.
Duque warned Guo that her non-participation in the process would compel the investigating officer to recommend the filing of criminal charges against her because the evidence they have is uncontroverted.
On Aug. 6, the Comelec en banc unanimously adopted the recommendation of the Legal Department to file a formal complaint against Guo for alleged misrepresentation in her candidacy in the 2022 local elections.
The commission’s decision was based on the findings of the Comelec investigating panel that all fingerprints provided by the National Bureau of Immigration (NBI) and the Bureau of Immigration (BI) matched with the fingerprints in Guo’s certificate of candidacy, application for registration as voter, and her fingerprints on the election day computerized voters list or EDCV when she voted in the 2022 elections and 2023 BSKE polls.
The fingerprints from the BI belong to a certain Guo Hua Ping, a Chinese citizen, but subsequent examinations by fingerprint experts from the NBI and the Comelec showed that it was a 100 percent match with the mayor’s prints.
Chairman George Erwin Garcia pointed out earlier that under Section 261 of the Omnibus Election Code (OEC), misrepresentation is a criminal case punishable by one to six years imprisonment if proven guilty,
Garcia added that Guo is also liable for perjury, a separate case, because she lied under oath when she claimed that she was a Filipino citizen in her CoC.
If Guo is found guilty in court and the sentence becomes final and executory, she would be perpetually disqualified from holding public office.
Garcia further said there is no pardon for one found guilty of an election offense, adding that the “presidential pardon could only be granted with the consent of the Comelec.”
Sen. Risa Hontiveros said Guo, apparently Chinese, is not qualified to be a local official as she lauded the Ombudsman for ordering her dismissal for grave misconduct.
“I commend the Ombudsman for this sound and sensible judgment,” Hontiveros said in a statement. She said that Guo or Guo Hua Ping “should have been stripped of that title immediately after we confirmed that she was not Filipino.”
“She does not deserve to serve the Filipino nation. And she must be held liable for violating our laws. I trust that our law enforcers are working double time to catch this fugitive,” Hontiveros said in Filipino and English.
“All these cases against Alice Guo are well and good, but until she has not been found [or arrested], our quest for justice is not fully achieved,” she added.
Guo was ordered arrested by the Senate for refusing to attend the public inquiry on her alleged link to Chinese criminals who allegedly financed and operated the POGOs in Bamban.
Guo denied the charges.
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