The Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) petitioned yesterday the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Manila to declare “null and void” the proclamation of Alice Guo as Bamban, Tarlac mayor for allegedly being a Chinese national.
The OSG filed a quo warranto petition against Guo, telling the court that the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) had determined that the mayor was the Chinese national Guo Hua Ping based on a fingerprint exam.
“Given the accuracy of the scientific analysis of thumbmarks, the Supreme Court has held that ‘thumbmarks never lie,’” the OSG told the court.
It added that “there is no credible official record or document establishing that Mayor Guo is a citizen of the Philippines, either by birth or naturalization.”
Solicitor General Menardo I. Guevarra, in the petition, said the OSG raised four major legal issues.
It said Guo Hua Ping, alias Alice Leal Guo, was unlawfully holding the position and illegally exercising the duties and responsibilities of the office of mayor of Bamban, Tarlac.
“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 said.
Likewise, the OSG said she has committed acts of serious dishonesty which, under the Local Government Code, warrants her removal from office.
Prior to the quo warranto petition, the OSG on behalf of the Philippines Statistics Authority (PSA) filed last 5 July before the Tarlac RTC a petition to cancel the certificate of live birth (COLB) of Guo.
Charged criminally
Guo and several others have also been criminally charged before the Department of Justice (DoJ) with qualified trafficking in persons charges which are non-bailable.
A preliminary investigation into the charges has been started by the DoJ’s panel of prosecutors.
Various government records showed Guo Hua Ping is the daughter of Chinese nationals Guo Jian Zhong and Lin Wenyi. Mayor Guo had been accused of coddling illegal Philippine Overseas Gaming Operator (POGO) firms and of being a Chinese spy.
“After coordination with the relevant government agencies, there is reason to conclude that neither respondent Guo Hua Ping nor her parents had acquired Philippine citizenship through the process of naturalization either under Republic Act 9139 or Commonwealth Act 473,” the OSG said.
The OSG noted that Guo Hua Ping was born on 31 August 1990 in Fujian, China and holds a Chinese passport. It said that even if Alice Guo was qualified to run for mayor, “she nonetheless committed serious dishonesty, which warrants her removal from office.”
It said the Rules of Court allow the OSG to file a quo warranto petition when there is “an act which, by the provision of law, constitutes a ground for the forfeiture of office.”
A quo warranto petition “is a special civil action brought in the name of the Philippines against a person who usurps, intrudes into, or unlawfully holds or exercises a public office.”
“Relevantly, dishonesty is one of the grounds specifically enumerated under Section 60 of RA 7160 (the Local Government Code), which warrants the removal of a public officer from office,” the OSG said.
It told the RTC that “respondent Guo Hua Ping’s serious dishonesty arises from her act of representing herself as ‘Alice Leal Guo’ in all her public and private dealings — a name that is different from the name she registered with the BI (Bureau of Immigration) upon her entry to the Philippines.”