Solicitor General seeks to remove Guo in petition

The Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) filed a quo warranto petition before the Manila Regional Trial Court on 29 July, challenging the authority of Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo to hold and exercise the powers of her office.

A quo warranto is a special civil action brought against a person who unlawfully holds or exercises a public office.

Solicitor General Menardo I. Guevarra outlined four major legal issues in the petition, arguing that Guo Hua Ping, also known as Alice Leal Guo, is unlawfully occupying the mayoral position. “She is not a Filipino citizen; she is a Chinese national. Thus, she is ineligible to run for any elective public office. She has committed acts which, by provision of law, constitute a ground for the forfeiture of her office,” the petition stated.

The petition also alleges that Guo has engaged in acts of serious dishonesty, warranting her removal under the Local Government Code.

Prior to this quo warranto petition, the OSG, on behalf of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), filed a petition on July 5 before the Tarlac RTC to cancel Guo’s certificate of live birth (COLB). This petition followed an investigation by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), which found that Guo and Chinese national Guo Hua Ping are the same person.

Additionally, the Office of the Ombudsman had earlier suspended Mayor Guo based on criminal and administrative charges filed by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG). Guo, along with others, faces non-bailable qualified trafficking in persons charges with the Department of Justice (DOJ), which has already initiated a preliminary investigation.