Guo stated the perjury and falsification charges filed against her should be dismissed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
The Philippines.- Alice Guo<\/strong>,\u00a0the suspended mayor of Bamban, Tarlac, has asked prosecutors to dismiss perjury and falsification charges filed against her. The charges stem from allegations that Guo signed and submitted a counter-affidavit related to a human trafficking case\u00a0lodged against her in her alleged involvement in illegal operations of offshore gaming operators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At a recent hearing at the Department of Justice (DOJ), Guo\u2019s attorney, Stephen David<\/strong>, argued that Guo signed the document before her departure and had no role in any falsification. Lawyer Elmer Galicia <\/strong>notarised the counter-affidavit on August 14 while Guo reportedly left the Philippines on July 18<\/a>. The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has asserted that Guo could not have personally appeared before the notary. David suggested that the notary should be questioned regarding any discrepancies, emphasising that Guo signed the document<\/strong> and did not intend to deceive or falsify.<\/p>\n\n\n\n David stated: \u201cShe was the one who signed it. That was pre-signed. I don\u2019t see any falsification there because she was the one who signed. Now, as to the one who notarized it, we should ask him.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Guo said she was unaware of any potential procedural errors by the notary <\/strong>and should not be held responsible for their actions. She contends that the NBI\u2019s allegations are not backed by substantial evidence and are intended to “vex, annoy, and harass” her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The counter-affidavit read: \u201cI did not falsify any document. Neither did I use my influence nor take advantage of my position as in this case, I am an ordinary private person who has no knowledge of the rules of notary public. As a private ordinary individual, it is improper and unfair to assume that I know of the duties and processes to be adopted by a notary public.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has filed charges against Alice Guo accusing her of misrepresenting her citizenship status on her Certificate of Candidacy (COC) for the May 2022 elections. The electoral body has accused Guo of breaching Section 74 of the Omnibus Election Code.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Comelec found inconsistencies between Guos\u2019 COC and a NBI Alien Fingerprint Card, which reportedly shows her name as Hua Ping Lin Guo, her citizenship as Chinese and her place of residence as Fujian, China. In her COC, Guo said she was born in Tarlac and had resided in the Philippines for 35 years and two months, with 18 years and two months spent in Bamban, Tarlac, before the 2022 elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Comelec said it was clear from the evidence that there is \u201csufficient ground to believe that Respondent committed material misrepresentation<\/strong> in violation of Section 74 of the OEC in relation with Section 262 of the same Code\u201d. An election offence carries a penalty of imprisonment for one to six years, disqualification from holding public office, and revocation of the right to vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In October, Alice Guo\u2019s attorney<\/a> Stephen David<\/strong> suggested that Guo would be a candidate in next year\u2019s mayoral elections. The news sparked criticism from several politicians<\/a> who called for Guo to be disqualified from seeking public office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Guo later distanced herself from the idea of standing but said: \u201cEven if I do have Chinese blood and there are questions on my nationality, and if you ask me, in front of the whole Philippines I am saying that I choose to be a Filipino. My heart and soul is Filipino.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Guo stated the perjury and falsification charges filed against her should be dismissed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":16906,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Suspended Bamban Mayor Alice Guo seeks dismissal of perjury and falsification charges related to a human trafficking case involving alleged illegal offshore gaming operations, citing a pre-signed counter-affidavit. Concurrently, the Commission on Elections has filed charges against Guo for alleged material misrepresentation of her citizenship status on her Certificate of Candidacy, linking her to a Chinese identity.","focusai_entities":"Alice Guo, Stephen David, Elmer Galicia, National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Department of Justice (DOJ), Commission on Elections (Comelec)","focusai_location":"The Philippines, Bamban, Tarlac, Fujian","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.85), regulator (0.95), compliance_legal (0.95), operator_casino (0.75), payments_fraud_aml (0.7), investor_analyst (0.8), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"iGaming Licensing Impact?","query":"What are the broader implications for B2B\/B2C licensing frameworks in the Philippines given the alleged links between public officials and illegal offshore gaming operations?"},{"label":"Regulatory Compliance Burden?","query":"How might these high-profile legal proceedings influence the regulatory compliance burden for legitimate iGaming operators and suppliers in the Philippine market?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[439,16333],"tags":[20326],"class_list":["post-777020488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legal-news","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-illegal-gambling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777020488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777020488"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777020488\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777020504,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777020488\/revisions\/777020504"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777020488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777020488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777020488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Comelec accuses Alice Guo of misrepresentation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n