Comelec panel recommends action against suspended mayor Alice Guo

The panel has recommended filing an election offence case against Guo.

The Philippines.- The Commission of Elections (Comelec) fact-finding panel has recommended filing an election offence case against Alice Guo, the suspended mayor of Bamban, Tarlac, for allegedly misrepresenting information in her certificate of candidacy (COC) during for the May 2022 election.

The Comelec en banc, which consists of seven members, will decide on the panel’s recommendation this week. If the recommendation is approved, a preliminary investigation will be conducted and Guo will be given the opportunity to respond.

The fact-finding panel was created to determine if Guo made false claims in her COC. Part of its tasks is to analyse Guo’s fingerprints from her voter registration records, COC, and Election Day Computerized Voters List (EDCVL) for the 2022 national and local polls, as well as the 2023 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections.

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) found that Alice Guo’s fingerprints matched those of Guo Hua Ping, a Chinese national who entered the Philippines on 12 January 2003, when she was 13 years old.

The Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) filed a quo warranto petition to remove Guo from her post as Bamban mayor, alleging that she is a Chinese national and therefore ineligible to hold public office.

See also: Philippines NBI unable to locate suspended mayor Alice Guo