Comelec panel finds ground to file poll raps against Guo

THE fact-finding panel created by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has found enough grounds to file an election offense case against suspended Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo.

In an interview, Comelec chief George Garcia said the fact-finding body of their Law Department has recommended the filing of a motu proprio election offense case against Guo for allegedly committing material misrepresentation in her Certificate of Candidacy (COC) in the 2022 national and local polls.

“The Department finds sufficient factual basis to proceed with the preliminary investigation and, thus, respectfully recommends that this Department be directed to file a motu proprio complaint and conduct a preliminary investigation against Mayor Alice Guo/Guo Hua Ping for material misrepresentation,” said Garcia, quoting the recommendation of the panel.

He said the fact-finding panel concluded that the owners of the fingerprints from the Bureau of Immigration (BI), National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), and the Comelec are “one and the same person.”

“Based on their findings, all these fingerprints were owned only by one and the same person,” noted Garcia.

Data from the BI showed that a certain Guo Hua Ping entered the Philippines on January 12, 2003 when she was 13 years old.

The NBI subsequently established that the fingerprints of Mayor Guo matched those of Guo Hua Ping.

On the part of the Comelec, it analyzed the fingerprints of Guo from her voter registration records, Certificate of Candidacy, and Election Day Computerized Voters Lists for the 2022 national and local polls and 2023 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections.

Garcia said he would discuss the matter with the Comelec en banc to decide what action to take.

“In case the Commission decides to adopt the recommendation of the panel, there will be a preliminary investigation, where Mayor Guo will have the opportunity to give her side,” he said.

The fact-finding panel was created by the Comelec to determine if Guo made false claims in her COC when she ran for mayor in the 2022 elections.

In her COC, Guo declared Tarlac, Tarlac as her place of birth, and that she has been living in the Philippines for 35 years and two