DILG ORDERS NAPOLCOM TO STRIP BAMBAN MAYOR GUO OF POWER OVER POLICE

DEPARTMENT of the Interior and Local Government (DILG)  Secretary Benhur Abalos has ordered the National Police Commission (Napolcom) to remove the police power of Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo.

Abalos said he has instructed the Napolcom to initiate proceedings for the withdrawal of the mayor’s deputization.

“Ibig sabihin, pagkatapos ng imbestigasyon na ito, with sufficient grounds, we would withdraw the deputization of Mayor Guo as the consequences of the privileges attached dito are revoked immediately, including its control and supervision of its local police,” Abalos said in a press briefing in Quezon City.

Under the Napolcom Memorandum Circular No. 99-010, elected governors and mayors “are automatically deputized as representatives of the Commission” in their areas.

The mayors, as Napolcom deputies, are given the power to supervise and control police units in cities or provinces they handle and directly employ and deploy units or PNP elements.

Meanwhile, PNP spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo said they are awaiting the formal approval of the order, which would take effect immediately.

Earlier, Abalos recommended to the Office of the Ombudsman the preventive suspension of Guo over her alleged links to Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs).

Abalos said the recommendation aims to prevent Guo from influencing the continuing investigations of the DILG and other government agencies.

The DILG head added that they have yet to finish their investigation on the citizenship issues surrounding Guo.

The Bamban mayor is in “hot water” due to her alleged links to a POGO hub raided by the authorities, the Zun Yuan Technology Incorporated (ZYTI).

The raided POGO hub is located near the Bamban Municipal Hall.

An investigation is also ongoing in the Senate over allegations that Guo maybe a Chinese asset.

Meanwhile, Mayor Guo said she is not a Chinese spy.

“I want to tell the public,  I am not a spy. I am a Filipino and that I love my country,” the Bamban mayor told a television interview on Monday night.

She revealed that  she was her Chinese father’s “love child” with his Filipina maid.