TIMELINE: The plots and twists of the 'Alice Guo' probe

The Senate on Saturday issued an arrest warrant for Alice Guo merely four months after she was catapulted into the national spotlight after "failing to recall" details of "growing up on a farm" as she faced questions from lawmakers.  

The 33-year-old mayor has been faced with several accusations, such as having a fake identity, being a Chinese spy, and being part of a Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) syndicate.

This, as her statement "hindi ko na po maaala, your honor" answer at the Senate became the talk of the town and became a punch line everywhere. 

But how did it go from meme to Senate arrest and the Anti-money Laundering Council (AMLC) stepping in to freeze her alleged billions of assets? 

Here's an overview of the plot and twists of the Mayor of Bamban in recent months. 

March 25, 2024 — Senator Sherwin Gatchalian urged the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to investigate a local government official in Tarlac over possible links to a recently raided POGO hub in the province. 

He cited a Sangguniang Bayan Resolution indicating that Guo supposedly applied for the license to operate the Hongsheng Gaming Technology Inc.

April 5, 2024 — the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) created a task forc to look into Guo’s alleged link to illegal activities of the POGO in her town. 

Apirl 8, 2024 — Guo denied her involvement in the POGO operations and alleged illegal activities of Zun Yuan Technology Incorporated in Bamban, which included human trafficking and illegal detention.

Gatchalian said a list of vehicles found inside the premises of Zun Yuan Technology and verification with the Land Transportation Office (LTO) showed that one of the vehicles was registered under Guo's name.

DILG Secretary Benhur Abalos said they have recommended the issuance of a preventive suspension against Mayor Guo to the Ombudsman in order to prevent any influence on the continuing investigations of our and other agencies. 

“I deny in the strongest terms all of these allegations of criminal conduct — or at least, allegations that I have somehow aided and abetted the supposedly Zun Yuan Technology Inc.,” Guo said in a statement.

May 7, 2024 — Guo's case came into the limelight during a hearing before the Senate panel on women, headed by Senator Risa Hontiveros. 

May 8, 2024 — Hontiveros starts questioning Guo's real identity. The Senator even went as far as asking if she was a Chinese citizen as she expressed doubt about her Filipino identity which was not backed by official records. 

According to Hontiveros, Guo's name only floated during the 2022 elections and the latter has no hospital record of birth and no school records in the Philippines.

It was revealed during the hearing that Guo's live birth registration was filed when she was already 17 years old.

May 16, 2024 — President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. said he knew most of the politicians in Tarlac and none of them knew the mayor of Bamban. He said the controversial mayor should really be investigated by concerned agencies. 

May 20, 2024 — Guo provided personal details about herself to refute accusations that include her alleged involvement with illegal POGO activities and that she might be a spy.

She then provided personal details about herself to refute accusations that include her alleged involvement with illegal POGO activities and that she might be a spy.

Guo explained that she is a love child of her father and his maid. 

May 21, 2024 — Hontiveros raised questions regarding Guo's alleged previous business partnerships with foreigners who have criminal records. She cited Baofu Land Development Inc.'s 2019 Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) documents. Zun Yuan Technology Incorporated, a Philippine offshore gaming operator (POGO) that was raided in March, operated inside the Baofu compound behind the Bamban municipal hall.

Hontiveros noted that in the SEC documents, Baofu's incorporators included Guo, Rachel Joan Malonzo Carreon, a Filipino; Zhiyang Huang, a Cypriot; Zhang Ruijin, a Chinese; and Baoying Lin, a Dominican.

The lawmaker mentioned news reports on Zhang Ruijin's conviction last month for being linked to the "largest money laundering case in Singapore." Citing a report by Channel News Asia, Hontiveros said the Chinese allegedly has "$41 million in assets overseas, including shareholdings in a Philippine real estate development company."

May 22, 2024— Guo said she was initially not aware of the criminal records of her foreign business partners as disclosed by Senator Risa Hontiveros, claiming she only learned about it through social media. 

On the same day, Guo's supposed parents do not have birth records in the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), Hontiveros said while citing PSA data.

An official of the PSA said there was a "high possibility" that Angelito Guo and Amelia Leal—the names that appeared in Guo's late-registration birth certificate—did not exist. 

May 24, 2024— The DILG files graft charges against Guo over her reported involvement with POGO.

June 3, 2024— The Office of the Ombudsman suspends Guo and two other local government officials for up to six months following the case filed by DILGF against her.

June 5, 2024— Guo refuted allegations that her real mother is Chinese national Wen Yi Lin.

Meanwhile, Senator Hontiveros said possible cases to be filed against Guo and questions about her identity have become more "solid" after the executive session in the Senate with various government agencies. 

June 6, 2024 — The Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN) of Guo contained mismatching details on her declared properties. It showed that Guo declared assets were worth around P429 million in her June 30, 2022, SALN. An amended copy of the document issued July 1, 2022, however, indicated her net worth plunged to only P286 million. 

From nine properties, Guo removed three real estate properties including a company under her name. Also cut from the list of her personal properties were club shares and a deposit for land acquisition worth P138 million. 

June 18, 2024 — The camp of suspended Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo is seeking a fair investigation into the issues and controversies thrown against her.

This as Guo’s associates submitted a letter to the Office of Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin on Tuesday morning to explain her side amid accusations against her, including the alleged involvement to the BAOFU Land Development, Inc., espionage, human trafficking, kidnapping, and money laundering. 

Meanwhile, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian presented records from the Board of Investments of the Guo family's application for a Special Investors Resident Visa.

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

June 19, 2024 — Guo has denied her involvement to a certain Guo Hua Ping, a Chinese passport holder. Atty. Stephen David, lawyer of Guo, said that many people are named “Guo Hua Ping” and urged Gatchalian to bring his documents to a proper forum and present his evidence. 

Moreover, the electricity bills of the raided Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) hub in Bamban were found named under Guo, according to the Philippine Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC). 

June 20, 2024 — Senator Loren Legarda echoed the call for the National People's Coalition (NPC) to kick suspended Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo from the party amid allegations being hurled against her.

June 21, 2024 — Authorities  filed a complaint against Guo and others for alleged human trafficking in connection to the raided POGO hub in her municipality.

Guo was also referred to as “a.k.a Guo Hua Ping” in the complaint.

June 25, 2024 — The Office of the Ombudsman has junked Guo's bid to lift the six-month preventive suspension slapped against her over her alleged links to a raided POGO in her jurisdiction.

The Ombudsman resolution dated June 21 said it is standing by its preliminary findings that there are sufficient grounds to hold that the evidence against Guo and the other respondents is strong.

June 26, 2024 — At the continuation of the senate investigation, Hontiveros questioned the real identity of Guo, as she bared a document from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) showing a picture of another woman with the name Alice Leal Guo.

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

"Has Guo Haping assumed the identity of a Filipino woman and then nearly a decade later, ran for public office? Sino po ang babaeng ito na may pangalang Alice Leal Guo pero hindi kamukha ni Mayor. Nasaan na po siya ngayon?" she added.

Guo, however, earlier announced her absence, which was confirmed by her lawyer Stephen David, saying that the embattled mayor "is not feeling okay."

Sen. Hontiveros then ordered the issuance of subpoenas against suspended Bamban Mayor Alice Guo and her family members.

June 27, 2024 — The Office of Solicitor General (OSG) said it is looking to immediately file a quo warranto case against suspended Bamban Mayor Alice Guo after the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) confirmed that she has the same fingerprints as the Chinese passport holder Guo Hua Ping.

July 8, 2024 — Guo's camp said the suspended mayor is not keen on attending the continuation of the Senate investigation after being "traumatized" during the hearings, according to her legal counsel Stephen David.

This is despite the issuance of a subpoena against her and the warnings from Senators Hontiveros and Gatchalian that she might be cited in contempt and arrested if she does not appear in the Senate hearings.

July 10, 2024 — The Senate committee ordered the issuance of an arrest order against Alice Guo after she skipped the resumption of the investigation on the raided POGO hub in her town. 

Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada moved to issue the arrest order against Guo, which was approved by Hontiveros, the chairperson of the committee on women, children, family relations, and gender equality.  

Meanwhile, Senator Gatchalian also moved to cite Guo's relatives who were issued subpoenas, particularly her father Jian Zhong Guo, suspected biological mother Wen Yi Lin, and siblings Seimen, Wesley, and Shiela.

Apart from the Guo family, Dennis Cunanan and Nancy Gamo were also cited in contempt.

Gatchalian also belied Guo's claim that she was homeschooled in their farm in Tarlac as he disclosed the latter's school records from Grace Christian High School from 2000 to 2003.

"Apparently si Guo Hua Ping or si Alice Guo ay hindi lumaki sa farm. Hindi rin siya homeschooled. Nag aral ho siya... Nag-aral siya sa parehas kong school-- sa Grace Christian High School for Grades 1, 2, and 3. Year 2000 to 2003," Gatchalian said.

July 12, 2024 — Guo thanked the people of her town for their continued support, stressing that she has no regrets that she entered politics even if it has been a painful experience.

In closing her post, Guo said, "Ako po ay isang FILIPINO. At MAY MALAKING puso for BAMBAN at mahal na mahal ko ang Pilipinas."

July 13, 2024 — The Senate has issued an arrest order against Guo for repeatedly failing to attend the upper chamber’s investigation into the raided POGO hub in her town.

Also ordered arrested are Dennis Lacson Cunanan, Nancy Jimenez Gamo, and the mayor's alleged relatives Sheila Leal Guo, Wesley Leal Guo, Jian Zhong Guo, Seimen L. Guo, and Wenyi Lin.

July 18, 2024 —  Gatchalian raised the possibility that Guo might use her Chinese passport to escape the Philippines.

The senator also requested the Bureau of Immigration to check if there is an Alice Guo or Guo Hua Ping who departed from the country's formal exit points.

July 19, 2024 — Guo questioned Hontiveros and Gatchalian on why they seemed fixated on her, indicating she was ready to face the allegations against her "in a fair trial at a proper forum."

“Am I really the country’s biggest problem that they need to focus on? Or do they just want to project me as the antagonist/villain?” Guo said in her statement.

She also asked the senators to focus on other issues instead.

In response to Gatchalian’s allegations, Guo also said that she does not hold a Chinese passport.

July 22, 2024 — Guo did not appear before the Department of Justice’s hearing on the human trafficking complaint filed against her, but she was represented by her legal counsel instead.

July 23, 2024 — Senate President Francis Escudero dismissed Guo’s letter to him explaining her absences in the Senate hearings and her apology over her statement towards Hontiveros and Gatchalian.

Escudero also noted that Guo did not indicate in her letter if she will attend or not the Senate investigation or if she will follow the subpoena and the arrest order of the Senate.

July 29, 2024 — The Office of the Solicitor General filed a quo warranto petition against Guo.

In the 45-page petition, the OSG asked the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 34 to declare Guo’s proclamation as Bamban mayor null and void and for her to be ousted.

—VAL/RSJ, GMA Integrated News