Senate probes Bamban Mayor Alice Guo for possible identity theft

Sen. Risa Hontiveros on Wednesday led a Senate probe into the possibility of identity theft by Suspended Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo.

The investigation centered on discovering another individual named “Alice Leal Guo” in the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) database.

This individual shares the same name and birthdate, July 12, 1986, as the suspended mayor Guo but appears to be a different person. 

Further discrepancies were discovered when existing records from the Special Investment Resident’s Visa identified the suspended mayor by her Chinese name, Guo Hua Ping, with a birthdate of August 31, 1990, in China. 

She arrived in the Philippines at 13 and is the daughter of Lin Wen Yi and a Chinese man.

This contradicts Guo’s previous statements in hearings and investigations, where she claimed to be the love child of her father and a housemaid, and she was raised on a farm for her entire childhood.

“I wrote to the NBI to request the biometrics data of Guo Hua Ping and Alice Guo looking to compare their fingerprints… at sa kasalukuyan, ito ay ina-analyze,” Hontiveros said during a recent Senate hearing.

Guo filed her birth certificate only days after a citizen named Alice Leal Guo applied for an NBI clearance, which was then used as a requirement for her candidacy in Bamban. 

“Bakit kailangan ni Guo Hua Ping nakawin ang pagkatao ni Ms. Alice Leal Guo– if she already has her Validly Issued Investor’s Visa, na papayagan siyang mamalagi dito?” Hontiveros further questioned.

Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian expressed a belief that if Guo is proven to be a Chinese national, it could strengthen the warranto case against her.

A warranto case is a test of Guo’s qualification to be Mayor, in which if the court found she obtained her position through fraudulent means, it could rule to remove her from office. 

Despite ongoing investigations, Guo skipped the senate hearing on Wednesday, citing in her excuse letter that she is “sick and stressed.”