BAMBAN MAYOR ALICE GUO REMOVED FROM LIST OF NPC MEMBERS

THE Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) has ordered the removal of suspended Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo from the roster of its members, adding to the woes of the controversial local chief executive.

Guo’s removal from the NPC — one of the largest political parties in the Philippines — comes about four months before politicians who seek a post in the 2025 midterm polls file their certificates of candidacy before the Commission on Elections.

The Bamban mayor is being investigated for her alleged involvement in the raided Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) hub in the town.

NPC chairman and former Senate President  Vicente “Tito” Sotto III,  in a letter dated June 22, 2024, issued the order after receiving a petition from Tarlac Gov. Susan Yap last June 17.

Secretary Mark Llandro Mendoza, the Party secretary general and Presidential Adviser on Legislative Affairs and head of the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office, will implement the order and inform Guo of her removal from NPC.

“The NPC will not tolerate any unlawful acts or any appearance of impropriety by its members that will undermine the principle of our party,” read the NPC letter, released to the media on Sunday.

The PAOCC and PNP-CIDG on Friday filed a qualified human trafficking complaint against Guo, former Technology and Livelihood Resource Center deputy director general Dennis Cunanan, 12 officers and incorporators of three companies, and Guo’s alleged business partners Huang Zhiyang, Zhang Ruijin and Baoying Li before the Department of Justice.

The case against Guo and the others stemmed from the raid at the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator hub Zun Yuan Technology Inc. in Bamban in March.

Huang is a fugitive in China, while Zhang and Baoying are allegedly involved in a major money laundering case in Singapore.

An Immigration Lookout Bulletin Order against Guo and the other respondents may be out next week.

Earlier, the Bureau of Internal Revenue said it would look into Guo and the names and entities connected with her.

“Due process will be followed. If the income declared with the BIR does not match the value of the properties amassed during the same taxable years, criminal cases for tax evasion will be filed,” BIR Commissioner Romeo Lumagui Jr. said.

“The same charges can be filed against conspirators and the corporate officers of the companies used to amass such wealth,”  he added.

The Bamban mayor, Municipal Business Permits and Licensing Office’s Edwin Ocampo and municipal legal office Adenn Sigua were ordered suspended due to “strong evidence showing their guilt” on the charges of grave misconduct, conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service and gross neglect of duty.

Before the suspension, Interior and Local Government Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. ordered the National Police Commission on May 20 to initiate proceedings to revoke Guo’s control over the local police within her jurisdiction. 

Guo is currently serving an Ombudsman-ordered six-month suspension, which started May 31, and faces human trafficking charges filed by the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) and the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) in connection with her alleged links to the grand conspiracy to commit labor trafficking of around 500 foreign POGO workers.