Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra said his office is now gathering information on the possible involvement of Bamban Mayor Alice Guo in illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations (POGO), among other things.
Guevarra said Wednesday that his office might file a quo warranto petition questioning the right of Mayor Gou to sit in office due to the matter of her nationality and identity.
Guevarra said that if there is good reason that Guo is holding office as a public official illegally, thus the filing of a petition for quo warranto by the OSG.
Quo warranto, according to the High Court, is a legal action requiring the subject to show ample proof for holding office or an official title.
In a recent hearing, Senator Risa Hontiveros has raised questions as to the identity and nationality of Gou because no official records are available to prove that she is a Filipino, even asking if Gou was a Chinese national.
Hontiveros raised the absence of school and hospital records, as well as the late filing of her birth certificate issued when she was 17 years old.
Gou defended her stance by saying that she was a Filipino at the time of her proclamation as mayor of Bamban, Tarlac.
As for the filing of the quo warranto, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said the OSG has the right to file a quo warranto, more so if the citizenship of the individual is under question.
Comelec chair George Garcia averred that the Comelec has no jurisdiction over the case of Gou who now sits as mayor because their jurisdiction begins and ends at the filing of the Certificate of Candidacy (COC) up to the final proclamation, respectively.
Former Comelec commissioner Gregorio “Goyo” Larrazabal agreed in a separate interview on Kapihan sa Manila Bay. “You can file a quo warranto,” Larrazabal said.
Meanwhile, Gou has denied involvement in another charge being leveled against her: the alleged involvement in POGO operations which were raided in her hometown in Bamban last March.
On this note, Larrazabal urged that it’s time to revise the Omnibus Election Code due to the outmoded provisions which were enforced in the 1980s.
He also said that while people are given leeway to question applications, very few people care to actually do it. This is why, he added, that people should be vigilant. “It is easier said than done,” he said.
Garcia, on the other hand, urged the public to be vigilant on two important fronts: the filing of the COC and voter registration.
No one opposed the voter registration of Guo in April 2021, Garcia said. He also added that foreigners have no way of filing their registration in the country.
According to Garcia, Gou’s case may be subject to the inquiry of the court due to the questions being raised. This led Garcia to immediately check the Commission’s Clerk of Court for records filed by Gou when she ran as mayor of Bamban, Tarlac in 2022.
