MANILA, Philippines – The Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) has launched a probe and created a team to investigate Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo.

Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra told Rappler on Thursday, May 16, that they formed the investigating team “to determine if there is good reason to believe that the subject is unlawfully holding or exercising public office.”

Guevarra said they are gathering relevant information from other agencies such as the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Department of Education, Commission on Elections, Bureau of Immigration, and the Philippine Statistics Authority.

“Possibly a petition for quo warranto, if the established facts will support it. Only the OSG, as counsel for the state, may commence such a proceeding,” Guevarra added.

Under rule 66 of the Rules of Court, the Solicitor General or a public prosecutor can initiate a quo warranto petition against public officers suspected of usurping their office, or those who are not qualified for office in the first place. A quo warranto petition can remove officials, like the one used to oust former chief justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.

Guo, Bamban’s first female mayor, is currently in hot water due to her alleged involvement in two illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations (POGO) in her province and her shady background.

Opposition Senator Risa Hontiveros has raised the question of whether Guo is an “asset” planted by China to infiltrate local politics. Last month, senators urged the DILG to suspend Guo over her alleged POGO ties.

During Senate hearings, Guo claimed she doesn’t remember basic details about her life, including her birthplace, why her birth was only registered when she was 17, and what home school program she took.

Comelec spokesperson John Rex Laudiangco said the mayor only registered as a voter in 2018. Guo also said the administration of former president Rodrigo Duterte helped her in her mayoral run. Coincidentally, the influx of POGO workers in the Philippines also occurred under the former president’s term. – Rappler.com