NBI finds Alice Guo, Guo Hua Ping have same fingerprints

The National Bureau of Investigation has found that Bamban Mayor Alice Guo and Chinese passport holder Guo Hua Ping have the same fingerprints.

Senator Risa Hontiveros made the disclosure in a statement, saying the NBI findings confirmed suspicions that the suspended mayor was "a fake Filipino... masquerading as a Filipino citizen to facilitate crimes."

Sought for comment, NBI director Jaime Santiago confirmed the findings to GMA News Online.

"Indeed, the NBI has confirmed that the fingerprints of Mayor Alice Guo and Guo Hua Ping match... They are the fingerprints of one and the same person," Hontiveros said.

"This confirms what I have suspected all along. Pekeng Pilipino si Mayor Alice—or should I say, Guo Hua Ping. She is a Chinese national masquerading as Filipino citizen to facilitate crimes being committed by POGO (Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations)," she added.

(Mayor Alice is a fake Filipino.)

Hontiveros called on the Office of the Solicitor General to hasten the filing of a quo warranto case against the elected official.

"Napakalaking insulto ito sa mga botante ng Bamban, sa mga institusyon ng ating gubyerno, at sa bawat mamamayang Pilipino," Hontiveros said.

"Ito na ang pinakamabigat na ebidensya para palayasin na sa pwesto si Mayor Alice," she added.

(This is a huge insult to the voters of Bamban, to the institutions of our government, and to every Filipino citizen. This is the most substantial evidence for the removal of Mayor Alice from her post.) 

Hontiveros thanked Santiago for the quick action on the fingerprints.

"I call on the Office of the Solicitor General to expedite its filing of a quo warranto case against her. Dapat mapanagot siya sa lahat ng krimen na ginawa niya at ng kanyang POGO hub," Hontiveros said.

"This revelation is not the end. Guo Hua Ping, soon we will know the full extent of your deception... We will dig deeper and locate the systemic roots of our POGO problem," she added.

GMA News Online has sought comment from Guo's camp and will publish its side once it is available.

'I am Filipino'

Guo came under close scrutiny after the police raid on the POGO hub in her constituency in Bamban, Tarlac.

Hontiveros raised the issue of Guo's identity after it was learned that her birth was registered late and that she had no school records.

At a campaign rally on April 2, 2022, then-candidate Guo told Bamban voters that she was a Filipino citizen.

"Ako po si Alice Guo, taga Barangay Virgen delos Remedios. Ang nanay ko po ay Pilipina. Ang tatay ko po ay isang Chinese," Guo said then.

"Ako po ay isang Filipino citizen at may pusong Bamban," she told the campaign crowd.

(I am Alice Guo of Barangay Virgen delos Remedios. My mother is Filipina. My father is Chinese. I am a Filipino citizen with a heart in Bamban.) 

Guo Hua Ping

It was Senator Sherwin Gatchalian who first raised suspicions that Alice Guo and Guo Hua Ping were the same person, citing documents from the Board of Investments (BOI) and the Bureau of Immigration.

Gatchalian earlier presented records from the BOI of the Guo family's application for a Special Investors Resident Visa (SIRV).

The documents showed one Guo Hua Ping entering the Philippines on January 12, 2003.

"Alice Guo might be Guo Hua Ping who entered the Philippines on January 12, 2003, when she was 13 years old. Her real birth date is on Aug 31, 1990," Gatchalian said.

The documents were uncovered after Guo failed to provide details of her childhood and background to the Senate committee and after senators scrutinized her birth certificate, which was registered late. 

With irregularities found in Guo's birth registration, the Philippine Statistics Authority endorsed the cancellation of the embattled mayor's birth certificate to the Office of the Solicitor General.

On Wednesday's Senate investigation into the raided POGO in Bamban, led by Hontiveros, the senator bared a document from the NBI showing a picture of another woman with the name Alice Leal Guo.

Two  Alices

The NBI document showed that the two Alice Leal Guos had the same birthday, July 12, 1986, and that their names had the same spelling.

According to Hontiveros, the two Guos also declared Tarlac as their place of birth.  

This prompted Hontiveros to ask if it was just a coincidence or a case of stolen identity.

Guo is at the center of the Senate investigation into the raided POGO hub in Bamban, Tarlac after several documents showed that she was personally involved in the processing of documents for its operations.

Guo is also suspected to be part of a criminal syndicate operated by Chinese nationals. —NB/BM, GMA Integrated News