Recently, a Philippine court ruling declared that former Chinese-Filipino mayor Alice Guo’s true nationality is Chinese, making her ineligible to hold public office, rendering her position as mayor invalid.
On June 27, the Manila Regional Trial Court stated in a 67-page ruling that Alice Guo, also known as “Guo Huaping,” despite holding a Philippine passport, falsified her birth certificate. It was revealed that she is actually a Chinese citizen holding a Chinese passport, with both of her parents being Chinese nationals. According to the law, she is prohibited from running for office or holding public positions in the Philippines, leading to the invalidation of her mayorship for “illegally occupying the mayor’s position.”
Immigration records show that at the age of 9, Guo Huaping entered the Philippines in 1999 with her Chinese parents, Guo Jianzhong and Lin Wenyi, under an investor visa. The claimed Philippine parents, Angelito Guo and Amelia Leal, had no birth or marriage records verified by the Philippine Statistics Authority.
Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority revealed that Guo Huaping only registered her birth in the Philippines in November 2005, when she was already 19 years old. Investigators pointed out that the documents she submitted were incomplete and that the parental information provided on the forms was false.
Guo Huaping has been detained for nearly 10 months due to involvement in multiple money laundering and human trafficking cases, with the trial pending. As she is facing serious charges related to human trafficking, she is not eligible for bail.
Identifying herself as “Alice Guo,” a Chinese-Philippine mix, Guo Huaping was elected as the mayor of Bamban in Tarlac province in May 2022.
In March 2024, authorities raided a casino in Bamban owned by Guo Huaping, revealing an offshore gambling site mainly catering to Chinese nationals on a portion of her land. Nearly 700 enslaved workers were rescued, including over 200 Chinese and 3 Taiwanese individuals.
Guo Huaping was declared a fugitive for repeatedly missing hearings at the Philippine Senate. A warrant for her and her family’s arrest was issued on July 12 last year. After evading capture, she was apprehended in Indonesia in September and extradited back to Manila.
Moreover, Guo Huaping is under suspicion of espionage for the Chinese Communist Party.
According to a previous report by Reuters, Senator Risa Hontiveros stated to foreign journalists, “I cannot conclude yet that she was not involved in (Chinese espionage), or that people connected to her were not involved in espionage activities.”
Hontiveros added, “We see substantial and deep connections between them (Guo Huaping and associates) and transnational criminal syndicates, which have not only harmed Filipino citizens but also individuals from around the world.”
Philippine President Marcos also expressed concern over the matter, stating, “Nobody knows who Guo Huaping really is.” However, Guo has denied these accusations.