MANILA, Philippines — A House leader cautioned Filipino voters to be vigilant in the 2025 midterm elections, urging them to beware of local candidates who may be fabricating their background and credentials like former Bamban, Tarlac mayor Alice Guo.
House Speaker Martin Romualdez (Leyte, 1st District) said on Friday, October 4, that Filipinos should “remain vigilant” in voting for candidates running for national and local government positions as the country may “suffer the consequences of more ‘Alice Guos’.”
According to Stephen David, Guo’s legal counsel, the former mayor is seeking reelection.
He said in an ambush interview with reporters on October 4 that Guo plans on filing her certificate of candidacy before the Commission on Elections (Comelec) next week.
They are considering scheduling it for the last day of filing, October 8, David added.
Romualdez requested the Comelec to prevent unqualified candidates like Guo, who is allegedly a Chinese national, from circumventing disqualification measures.
“We must use available legal measures, such as disqualification petitions, to address any issues that arise,” he said.
Why can Guo still file a certificate of candidacy? While the Office of the Ombudsman has dismissed Guo from her position as mayor and included an order that bars her from holding public office, she still has the option to appeal the decision.
This is one of the reasons why the Comelec said they could not prevent Guo from filing her candidacy.
The Comelec will still review the documents of those who file and determine whether or not they will be disqualified. Filing a COC does not immediately guarantee one’s candidacy, they explained.
RELATED: Alice Guo can still file for candidacy — SolGen
Is Guo a Chinese national?
In the congressional probe into the illegal operations of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO), the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) confirmed to lawmakers that Guo’s fingerprints matched those of Chinese national Guo Hua Ping.
An Al Jazeera investigation also revealed documents about a certain Guo Hua Ping, indicating the same birthday as the one recorded in the Bureau of Immigration’s (BI) travel records for the Chinese national.
Lawmakers also noticed that the ID picture from the dossier Al Jazeera received not only matches those in the NBI and BI documents but also bears a striking resemblance to Alice Guo herself.
Guo denied she is Guo Hua Ping and expressed her intention to file charges against the person who named her a Chinese spy in the Al Jazeera documentary.
The Department of Foreign Affairs announced on October 4 that they canceled Guo’s Philippine passport on September 30.
This came after they received documents from the NBI certifying that Guo’s biometrics match Guo Hua Ping’s.
RELATED: DFA cancels Alice Guo’s passport
Guo’s birth certificate may also be canceled because of a quo warranto petition filed by the Office of the Solicitor General.
The dismissed mayor’s arraignment for graft charges filed before the Valenzuela City Regional Trial Court will be held on October 28.
Guo is also implicated in additional complaints, including money laundering, tax evasion and qualified human trafficking, due to her purported involvement in illegal scam hubs as revealed in Congress investigations.
The latest complaints against Guo, filed by the NBI on Thursday, October 3, include falsification and perjury charges after the agency discovered that the signature on her counter-affidavit did not match those on other documents bearing her signature.
