National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Director Jaime B. Santiago said on Wednesday, July 3, that the bureau will continue its investigation on an "Alice Guo y Leal" who secured a clearance in 2005.
Santiago said the "Alice Guo y Leal" in the 2005 NBI clearance "has a different photograph" but with the same birthday as that of suspended Mayor Alice L. Guo of Bamban, Tarlac.
Interviewed during his visit at the Commission on Elections (Comelec), Santiago said that despite this ongoing investigation, this will no longer affect the NBI’s fingerprint examination which showed that Mayor Alice L. Guo and the Chinese national Guo Hua Ping are the same person.
“Meron na kaming nakitang conclusive evidence na iisa lang tao ‘yun (We have conclusive evidence that this is just one and the same person),” he said.
“So ‘yung third na ‘yun hindi na makakaapekto sa findings namin (So the third person can no longer affect our findings),” he added.
He reiterated that Mayor Guo secured an NBI clearance in 2021 and her fingerprints there were found to be the same as those of Guo Hua Ping.
On the "Alice Guo y Leal" in the 2005 NBI clearance, Santiago said NBI operatives have visited the Quezon City residence of that "Alice Guo y Leal."
"Na-check na namin ‘yung history ng bahay na ‘yun, address na ‘yun. Wala doon nakatira na Alice Guo (We checked the history of the house and the address. No Alice Guo lived there),” he said.
Mayor Guo has been ordered preventively suspended for six months by the Office of the Ombudsman which found strong evidence on the administrative cases filed against her by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) in connection with the grant of permit and operation of a facility of the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) in Bamban town.
At the Department of Justice (DOJ), Guo and several other persons have been charged with non-bailable offense of qualified trafficking in persons also in relation to the Bamban POGO.
Prosecutor General Benedicto A. Malcontento said the DOJ will announce this Friday, July 5, when the preliminary investigation of the complaints will start.
The Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), on the other hand, is expected to file before the court a quo warranto petition that seeks to declare as void the proclamation of Guo as mayor.
Solicitor General Menardo I Guevarra also revealed that the quo warranto petition would not be the only case his office would file against Mayor Guo. Guevarra did not give more details.