Mayor Alice Guo to challenge Ombudsman's suspension order

The camp of embattled Bamban Mayor Alice Guo said Tuesday that they would challenge the Ombudsman's order with a view to lifting her preventive suspension.

Guo's lawyer, Stephen David, called into question the weight of the prosecution's evidence to substantiate its claims against Guo, who is under rigorous scrutiny over her supposed ties to illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) activities in her town.

"Not everyone with a case has a preventive suspension. That's only selective if the evidence is strong. What if we prove that the evidence is not strong?" David said in an interview.

"We will file a reconsideration with motion to lift the suspension because we will prove that the evidence is not strong. In fact, there is no evidence at all."

The Ombudsman on Monday said it found "sufficient grounds" to preventively suspend Guo alongside Municipal Business Permits and Licensing Office officer Edwin Ocampo and Municipal Legal Officer Adenn Sigua, citing "strong evidence showing their guilt."

The suspension follows the administrative complaint filed by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), alleging that the three committed grave misconduct, serious dishonesty, and gross neglect of duty by granting a business permit to Zun Yuan Technology despite the cease-and-desist order of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR).

Ombudsman Samuel Martires, meanwhile, countered that David's rationale failed to impress.

"All people, whether [facing] criminal case or civil case, who are not satisfied with the decision of the court, of the Ombudsman, will really complain. They will say it's unfair," the Ombudsman said in a separate interview.

He justified the preventive suspension by stating that their continued stay in office may prejudice the investigation of the case.

"In the meantime, while we are investigating, we have to preventively suspend her together with the business permit and licensing officer and the legal officer. But it doesn't mean to say it will take six months of preventive suspension," Martires expounded.

"If our investigation is finished within two, three, or four months, then we will immediately lift the preventive suspension."

According to the Ombudsman, they are already delving into both administrative and criminal aspects of the case.

"As for the administrative [case], if we find that there is a violation [and] she is really guilty, then we will impose an appropriate punishment," he said, adding that they will immediately file the case before the Sandiganbayan once probable cause had already been established.

Martires likewise divulged that there is a high chance that Guo might be unseated if she is proven guilty.

"It might. Because the evidence that we have on hand now is very strong. So it is up to her to prove that these allegations and the evidence gathered against her are not true."

Guo is said to be the president of Baofu Land Development Inc., a POGO operations compound in Bamban, Tarlac, raided for alleged human trafficking and serious illegal detention by the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission on 13 March.

Baofu hosts Zun Yuan and Hongsheng Gaming Technology Inc., which was likewise raided in February for an alleged fraudulent cryptocurrency investment operation.

Records showed that Hongsheng continued operating despite the PAGCOR canceling its license to operate months before the raid.