DFA urged to make Alice Guo's PH passport null, void

The Department of Foreign Affairs should make dismissed Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo's Philippine passport null and void immediately.

Senator Risa Hontiveros made the call a day after she bared that Guo, also identified as Chinese citizen Guo Hua Ping, has left the Philippines and arrived in Malaysia on July 18, then went to Singapore to meet her parents and her brother.

"Ang kapal din talaga ng mukha ng pekeng Pilipino na ito. Ginamit pa ang pasaporte ng Pilipinas para tumakas. Her passport should be made null and void immediately," Hontiveros said.

(This fake Filipino even has the gall to use a Philippine passport to escape. Her passport should be made null and void immediately.)

"Cancelling her passport will limit her travels. Mas madali siya matutuntun kapag hindi siya gala nang gala. And besides, she does not have the right to use a Philippine passport in the first place," the senator added.

(Cancelling her passport will limit her travels. It would be easier to locate her if she will not go from one place to another. And besides, she does not have the right to use a Philippine passport in the first place.)

Hontiveros then took a swipe at the lack of coordination among government agencies in preventing Guo to leave the country, when it was confirmed that she "faked" her Filipino citizenship.

"Dapat nu'ng nakumpirma na pineke ang kanyang pagka-Pilipino, kinansela na agad ang pasaporte niya. Sana naisagawa na ito ng ating mga ahensya. The failure to apprehend Alice Guo only shows the lack of better interagency coordination," the senator said.

(Her passport should have been cancelled as soon as it was confirmed that her Filipino citizenship was falsified. Our agencies should've done this. The failure to apprehend Alice Guo only shows the lack of better interagency coordination.)

"Hindi pwedeng nakakalusot siya dahil walang maayos na koordinasyon. At mas lalong hindi natin papalagpasin kung may mga opisyal pala na kasabwat si Alice Guo sa lahat ng ito,” she added.

(The lack of coordination should not be the reason for her escape from the country. We will not let it pass if there are officials who are in cahoots with Alice Guo in all of this.)

Guo's lawyer Stephen David, citing the dismissed mayor herself, said Guo was still in the Philippines.

David said he was able to talk with Guo on Monday, August 19, and she told him that she is still in the country. The lawyer, however, admitted that he cannot confirm the information and has no idea where she is exactly.

He made the statement even as the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) also said that the dismissed mayor had left the country, visiting at least three countries in Southeast Asia, the latest being Indonesia.

Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco, citing intelligence information, said that Guo slipped out of the country without passing through Philippine immigration authorities.

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) on Tuesday morning confirmed that Guo is currently in Indonesia, arriving there nearly a month after departure from the Philippines.

BI spokesperson Dana Sandoval said Guo traveled to Malaysia from the Philippines on July 16, then arrived in Indonesia from Singapore on August 18.

The bureau is now backtracking Guo's movements to determine the persons behind her travel, Sandoval said. The BI is also not ruling out the possibility that some immigration officials have been helping the mayor. — VDV, GMA Integrated News