Hontiveros: Court ruling vs Guo very good dev’t
Sen. Risa Hontiveros on Monday welcomed the ruling of a Manila court disqualifying dismissed Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo from holding a government post after declaring her “undoubtedly a Chinese citizen.”
“This is a very good development. This shows that two branches of government can help each other on any legislative inquiry or investigation to ensure public safety… [and] that the rights of women and children are protected,” Hontiveros said in a press briefing.
But despite the court ruling, authorities and the public should remain on alert, according to her.
“Our Pogo (Philippine offshore gaming operator) problems are far from over. That’s why I believe the [Philippine National Police] and the other law enforcement agencies should remain on high alert because reports on crimes continue, and clearly these are related to Pogo networks,” Hontiveros said.
She expressed hope that the Senate investigation on Guo, along with its findings and recommendation, as well as the court decision, will serve as a lesson to others, including those who pretend to be Filipinos or connive with fake government officials.
Hontiveros, as chair of the Senate committee on women, children, family relations and gender equality, led last year’s hearings on Guo and her connections with illegal Pogos.
Guo’s case, which prompted a congressional investigation that ran for months, also raised questions about the rise of Pogos under the past administration, exposing systemic irregularities that the court also acknowledged in its ruling.
Giving full weight and credence to the “infallible science of fingerprint examination,” Presiding Judge Liwliwa Hidalgo-Bucu of the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 34 granted the quo warranto petition filed by the Office of the Solicitor General against Guo after she and Chinese national Guo Hua Ping were proven to be the same person.
“Such being the case, respondent Guo Hua Ping a.k.a. Alice Leal Guo, is nothing more but a usurper of the Office of the Mayor of Bamban, Tarlac,” the judge said in the 67-page decision dated June 27.
According to the court, Guo is not only disqualified from occupying the post but also from running for Bamban mayor in the first place, which makes her proclamation as the winner in the 2022 elections void.
