Senator Gatchalian: NPC should expel Alice Guo

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said on Wednesday that the Nationalist People's Coalition (NPC) should expel Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo due to her alleged links to criminal activities involving a Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) in her municipality.

Gatchalian said that with three out of four incorporators of Baofu Land Development Inc. being involved in money laundering, it is hard to believe that she does not know anything about their criminal activities in Bamban, such as scam hubs and human trafficking.

“My personal take is for her to be expelled from NPC because she is connected with POGO, and her birth certificate is irregular and invalid,” Gatchalian, a member of the NPC advisory board, said during the Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum.

Gatchalian was referring to Zun Yuan Technology Incorporated, a POGO entity raided in March for alleged illegal activities inside the Baofu Land Development Inc. compound located behind the Bamban Municipal Hall.

Senator Risa Hontiveros said that based on Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) documents, the incorporators of Baofu Land Development Inc. are Guo, Rachel Joan Malonzo Carreon, a Filipino; Zhiyang Huang, a Cypriot; Zhang Ruijin, a Chinese; and Baoying Lin, a Dominican.

Guo's background was questioned during the Senate women, children, family relations, and gender equality committee's investigation into the raided POGO hub in Bamban.

Gatchalian earlier said his office obtained a copy of the Sangguniang Bayan Resolution dated September 2020 containing the council's approval of the application made by Guo, who was then a private citizen, for the license to operate Hongsheng Gaming Technology Inc.

Hongsheng was raided in February 2023. The same compound was then used by Zun Yuan Technology when it was raided in the Baofu compound in March 2024.

Guo filed her candidacy as an independent candidate in the May 2022 polls and joined the NPC after she won.

“When she won, it is normal that those who win the polls join the ruling party, the NPC, since Tarlac is [dominated by] the NPC, but it is important for NPC members to have a high standard of integrity, good moral conduct, and more importantly, hindi nasasangkot sa ganitong kriminalidad (not involved in criminal activities),” Gatchalian said.

“As a member of the NPC advisory council, it is important that NPC members maintain integrity, or this will set a bad precedent,” he said.

GMA News Online sought comment from Guo's camp, but no response has been received as of posting time.

NPC chairman and former Senate president Vicente Sotto III said a week ago that the party was investigating Guo in light of the Senate inquiry on POGO-linked criminal activities.

Guo has denied involvement in criminal activities and said she only learned about her business partners' backgrounds on social media. —VBL, GMA Integrated News