Guo to serve jail time in PH before deportation if convicted -Hontiveros

If she is convicted by the local courts, suspended Bamban Mayor Alice Guo would have to serve her sentence here in the  Philippines before her possible deportation, Senator Risa Hontiveros said Friday.

"Kahit magkaroon ng penalty of deportation sa kanya, kapag na-convict siya in any of those cases, she will first have to serve her sentence here in the Philippines," Hontiveros said in a press conference,  citing a Department of Justice's opinion.

"Kumabaga hindi  lang free pass na made-deport at dun na lang niya harapin 'yung  consequences sa kung saan siya ide-deport, but she will have to face the consequences kapag mapatunayan ng mga korte natin na nilabag niya ang  mga batas ng ating republika," she added.

(If there will be a penalty of deportation once she is convicted in any of the cases, she will first have to serve her sentence here in the Philippines. The deportation will not be a free pass. She will have to face the consequences if  our courts find that she indeed violated the laws of our republic.)

Guo and several others are facing human trafficking charges, a non-bailable offense.

Apart from this, the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) plans to file a quo warranto case against Guo as soon as possible, which may result in her removal from her elective post.

For Hontiveros, the cancellation of Guo's birth certificate was the "gravest offense" the mayor could face.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) endorsed canceling Guo's birth registration with the OSG.

Furthermore, Hontiveros said Guo will also face heavier consequences if it is proven that she stole the identity of a Filipino woman and if she used that to run for office.

"In effect, kung ang kaso na hinaharap natin ay isang Chinese national who posed as a Filipino para makuha ang isang elective office, at kasabay pa yan nag-identity theft ng isang  Pilipina para mabigyan ng cover ang mga POGO sa kanilang iba’t ibang  criminal activities, so mabibigat na usapin yan," she said.

"Whatever be the outcome of any of these charges and actual cases, kung ma-convict siya, she will have to serve time here in the Philippines."

Last Wednesday, Hontiveros presented a document from the National Bureau of Investigation showing that there are two  Alice Leal Guos who have the same birthday, July 12, 1986, and that their names have the same spelling.

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

This prompted her to ask if this was just a coincidence or a case of stolen identity.

The following day, the NBI confirmed that Mayor Guo and Chinese passport  holder Guo Hua Ping's fingerprints were "affixed by one and the same  person."

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 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.

Guo came under scrutiny after the police raid on the POGO hub in her constituency in Bamban, Tarlac. — DVM, GMA Integrated News