The Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality on Wednesday, June 26 raised the alarm after finding out that a different individual with the name Alice Leal Guo already exists in the records of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
Senate Deputy Minority Leader Sen. Risa Hontiveros, chairperson of the Senate women’s panel, pointed this out during the continuation of her committee’s investigation into suspended Bamban Mayor Alice Leal Guo’s alleged involvement in the raided Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) hub in her town in Tarlac.
“I want you to all to take a good hard look at this document. The birthday on the birth certificate of (Bamban, Tarlac Mayor) Alice Leal Guo is the same: July 12, 1986. The spelling of the name is the same, but the faces are different,” Hontiveros said during the hearing.
“I have many questions. Is it a coincidence that two Alice Leal Guo were born on July 12, 1986 in Tarlac? Is it a coincidence that this NBI (National Bureau of Investigation) clearance was applied for just a few days before the date of the filing of the delayed registration of birth of the other Alice Leal Guo in Tarlac City? Or is it a case of stolen identity?” she pointed out.
"Has Guo Haping assumed the identity of a Filipino woman and then nearly a decade later, ran for public office? Who is this woman who also bears the name of Alice Leal Guo but has a different face from the mayor? Where is she now?"
"Which leads us to our next question, how large and what is the nature of Alice Guo's networks?" the senator pointed out.
Both Hontiveros and Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian earlier showed documents from the Board of Investments (BOI) and the Bureau of Immigration (BI) showing that Mayor Guo’s probable true identity is Guo Hua Ping, a Chinese woman, who entered the Philippines on Jan. 12, 2003, when she was 13 years old.
Documents from the Guo family’s application for a Special Investors Resident Visa (SIRV) indicates that Guo Hua Ping’s birth date is Aug. 31, 1990, contradicting the mayor’s earlier statement that she was a “lovechild” of her father and his housekeeper whose name is Amelia Leal.
“If the intelligence information shared to us during the executive session a few weeks ago is right, this Committee hearing is in the process of uncovering a deep and deadly web of bad actors, involving international criminal syndicates, local and national politicians, and perhaps, malevolent elements of a foreign state,” Hontiveros said.
The senator said she has already requested the NBI to provide the biometrics data of both Guo Haping and Alice Guo to compare their fingerprints and these are currently being analyzed. She also thanked new NBI director Jaime Santiago for promptly responding to the Senate’s request for additional information on the identity of Guo.
‘Sick, stressed’
Meanwhile, Guo was absent during the Senate panel’s Wednesday probe.
In her letter to the committee head, the suspended mayor apologized for her inability to attend the hearing saying she is “not fit to appear” due to “stress and high level of anxiety.”
“Truth be told, my exposure to prolonged stress and high level of anxiety, owing to the concerning and malicious accusations thrown against me have adversely affected and caused serious impact on my physical and mental health,” Guo said in the letter.
The Office of the Ombudsman has placed Guo under preventive suspension for six (6) months while the administrative charges filed against her are still pending. She is now facing a non-bailable offense of qualified human trafficking.
Authorities have been scrutinizing Guo after the Senate committee on women bared her alleged ties to Zun Yuan Technology Inc., an illegal POGO hub in Bamban raided by law enforcers due to human trafficking and other criminal activities.
Guo had repeatedly denied all accusations against her, and denied allegations she is spy of China amid questions regarding her citizenship.
The mayor is also facing a non-bailable offense of qualified human trafficking before the Department of Justice (DOJ).
The mayor is also facing a non-bailable offense of qualified human trafficking before the Department of Justice (DOJ).
The Senate panel also ordered the issuance of a subpoena against Guo and her family members, particularly her father Jian Zhong Guo, her suspected biological mother Lin Wen Yi, and siblings, Shiela, Seimen and Wesley Leal after they failed to appear before the hearing.
The committee also ordered the issuance of a subpoena against Nancy Gamo, the accountant and person in charge of the Guo family’s business documents. Gatchalian emphasized the significance of Gamo’s appearance in the hearing as her name has appeared in different POGO companies.