PSA data shows Alice Guo's 'parents' have no birth records

Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo's supposed parents do not have birth records in the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), Senator Risa Hontiveros said while citing PSA data.

At the Senate inquiry on the alleged illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations in Bamban, an official of the PSA said there was a "high possibility" that Angelito Guo and Amelia Leal—the names which appeared in Guo's late-registration birth certificate—did not exist.

Hontiveros during the Senate hearing said both parents were declared as "Filipinos."

It was also revealed that the couple have three more children. However, upon checking their children's birth certificates, it was found that there were different marriage dates indicated for Leal and Angelito Guo.

Citing information from the PSA, Hontiveros said Guo’s parents had no record of marriage. PSA data showed that neither of the mayor's parents even have birth records.

"Maitatanong talaga, hindi po kaya Angelito Guo and Amelia Leal Guo don't even exist? Itong dalawang taong ito, na according to the documentary evidence, have three children, but according to you mayor, only have one child, apparently do not even exist," Hontiveros said.

(Is it possible that Angelito Guo and Amelia Leal Guo don't even exist? These two people, according to the documentary evidence, have three children, but according to the mayor only have one child, apparently do not even exist.)

PSA legal service director Eliezer Ambatali said there was a "high possibility" that these people do not exist but there was also a chance that they only failed to have their births registered.

"May posibilidad po na hindi nakapag-parehistro lang po ang mga magulang ni mayor. Puwedeng mangyari 'yun… Pero sa ngayon, maaari din at mataas ang posibilidad, na hindi existing ang mga tao,” Ambatali said.

(There is a possibility that the mayor's parents were not able to register their birth. That can happen... But right now, it's also possible and highly probable that those people don't exist.)

Birth certificates

Guo said that she was not the one who prepared her own nor her siblings' birth certificates,  thus she had no idea why there were discrepancies in the documents.

"Your honor, 'yan po ang truth. Hindi namin pinag-uusapan sa bahay. Medyo sensitive 'yung topic kaya hindi talaga namin pinag-uusapan," the mayor told Senator Raffy Tulfo when asked why she did not ask her father about her family background.

(Your honor, that's the truth. We don't talk about it at home. The topic is quite sensitive so we don't really talk about it.)

Guo also affirmed that she was willing to undergo a lie detector test to prove her claim.

Last Monday, Guo admitted that she was a "love child of her father with his househelper. She said her biological mother left her when she was a child, and that she was raised and kept strictly hidden inside a farm to avoid raising suspicions about her identity.

The mayor also reiterated that she received her education through home-tutoring services and only knew her mother's name when her birth was officially registered. She also said that she wishes to meet her biological mother to dispel the rumors against her and prove that she is a Filipino citizen.

Inconsistencies

During Wednesday's hearing, senators also questioned why Guo introduced her father as Chinese, when he was declared as a Filipino citizen in her birth certificate. The mayor had admitted that her father was a Chinese passport holder.

Guo, who spoke mostly in Tagalog during the hearing, also admitted that she only knows a little bit of Kapampangan, which is a native language in Tarlac.

The Senate women, children, family relations, and gender equality committee, chaired by Hontiveros, has been conducting an investigation on the raided Philippine offshore gaming operator (POGO) hub in Bamban, Tarlac last March.

The POGO, Zun Yuan Technology Incorporated, operated inside the Baofu compound behind the Bamban municipal hall.

Hontiveros earlier revealed that Guo was one of Baofu's incorporators, citing Baofu's 2019 Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) documents.

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian earlier alleged Guo's possible involvement with the Bamban POGO hub that was raided, citing a Sangguniang Bayan Resolution indicating that Guo — who was then a private citizen — supposedly applied for the license to operate the Hongsheng Gaming Technology Inc.

Hongsheng was raided in February 2023. The same compound was then used by Zun Yuan Technology Inc., the company that was raided this May. — VDV/NB, GMA Integrated News