Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra (File photo)
MANILA – The Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) is investigating the citizenship of Bamban Mayor Alice Guo after her alleged ties to a Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) was brought up in a Senate panel hearing.
"Yes, I created a special team of solicitors last week to look into the matter and determine if there is good reason to believe that the subject is unlawfully holding or exercising a public office," Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra said in a message to reporters on Thursday.
"If it could be established by proof, the OSG will commence quo warranto proceedings to oust the person concerned."
For now, Guevarra said, the OSG is gathering relevant information from the Commission on Elections (Comelec), Department of the Interior and Local Government, Department of Education, Philippine Statistics Authority, Bureau of Immigration, and other government agencies.
During a Senate hearing last week, Senator Risa Hontiveros noted that the 37-year-old Guo apparently “came out of nowhere.”
The mayor, who won on her first attempt at running for the position, remained evasive when questioned about her background before joining local politics, raising even more suspicion about her citizenship.
Based on records from the Comelec, Guo declared that she is a Filipino citizen in her certificate of candidacy, and no one challenged her qualifications, allowing her to run and eventually win as mayor of Bamban, Tarlac. (PNA)
