GUO Hua Ping, also known by her alias Alice Leal Guo, has been suspended by the Office of the Solicitor General as mayor of Bamban, Tarlac on the heels of the discovery by the National Bureau of Investigation through fingerprint analysis that she is really a Chinese national and therefore unfit to occupy any elective position in this country.
The answer? We don’t know, and neither do law enforcement authorities as of now, as it appears that she has made herself as scarce as hen’s teeth since then.
Has Guo already fled to China where she is a citizen?
Or is she being coddled by her fellow Chinese—or even by Filipinos—believed to be behind the proliferation of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) who are said to be behind various criminal offenses, like kidnapping, torture, murder, and online scams of every conceivable type like investment scams and love scams, among others?
Last month, Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra filed a petition for quo warranto against Guo before the Manila Regional Trial Court. A quo warranto, which literally means “by what authority,” is a special civil action to determine if an individual has the right to exercise or hold a public office.
According to the OSG, Guo is unlawfully holding the position and illegally exercising the duties and responsibilities of the Office of the Mayor of Bamban, Tarlac since she is a Chinese national and ineligible to run for any elective public office.
Moreover, Guo has committed acts that are grounds for the forfeiture of her office, including serious dishonesty which, under the Local Government Code, warrant her removal from office.
With President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. having categorically banned POGOs from further operating in the entire country and directing the state-owned Philippine Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) to gradually phase them out by yearend, two of the biggest POGOs in the country in Bamban, Tarlac and Porac, Pampanga where the suspended mayor is said to among those deeply involved in their operations.
While Guo has strenuously denied having any ties to the raided POGO firms in the two provinces during earlier hearings in the Senate, evidence gathered by the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission indicate she is in fact orchestrating illegal POGO operations, abetting criminal activities and amassing huge wealth in the process.
What to do now?
Should the government perhaps offer a bounty for her immediate arrest as she has apparently gone into hiding in parts unknown or maybe even gone back to China through the backdoor?
What’s clear is she is a fugitive from justice as charges have already been filed against her.
She should not be allowed to further thumb her nose at the Philippine justice system and go scot-free.
