Alice Guo dismissed from service for grave misconduct
The Office of the Ombudsman has ordered the dismissal of suspended Bamban mayor Alice Guo for "grave misconduct" in connection with the alleged illegal activities of POGO hub in the area.
In the ruling acquired by the Philippine STAR, the Ombudsman penalized Guo with dismissal from her service as mayor of the Tarlac municipality.
With this, all of her retirement benefits have been forfeited and she is perpetually disqualified to re-enter government service in the future.
Aside from Guo, the Ombudsman also suspended Bamban’s Business Permit and Licensing Officer Edwin Ocampo and Municipal Legal Officer Adden Sigua after they were found guilty of Conduct Prejudicial to the Best Interest of the Service.
Other respondents facing the same punishment include incumbent Bamban Vice Mayor Leonardo Anunciacion and incumbent councilors Johny Sales, Ernesto Salting, Jayson Galang, Jose Salting Jr., Nikko Balilo, Robin Mangiliman, Jose Casmo Aguilar, Mary Andrei Lacsamana, and Ranier Rivera.
Former vice mayor William Cura and former Bamban councilors Alvin Dale Sibal, Fortunato Mejia, Ariel Alimurong, and Eduardo Gutierrez meanwhile evaded being served the penalty for Conduct Prejudicial to the Best Interest of the Service due to their term of office having ended in June 2022.
The Ombudsman urged the Department of Interior and Local Government, however, to investigate why there were no charges filed against former Bamban mayor Jose Antonio Feliciano over his role in accommodating the request of Guo to the issuance of a Letter of No Objection for the POGO hub Hongsheng Gaming Technology.
"Hongsheng was represented by Guo, when Feliciano, through a letter dated 16 September 2020, directed the Sangguniang Bayan, through then Vice Mayor William Cura to issue the Letter of No Objection, despite the absence of proper documentation. Clearly, Hongsheng was an inexistent juridical entity at that time," the Ombudsman stated.
On Aug. 13, the Commission on Elections also issued her a subpoena for material misrepresentation.
Guo has been subject to scrutiny since she was allegedly linked to two POGOs in her bailiwick: Hongsheng Gaming Technology Incorporated, which was raided in February 2023, and Zun Yuan Technology Incorporated, which was raided in March this year. The POGOs were accused of trafficking and scams.
She was questioned as to why she was supposedly unaware of such alleged illegal activities. In past Senate hearings, she was also asked about her background to confirm her nationality, especially since she currently holds a high post in the local government.
Guo has since maintained that she's Filipino and has denied having ties to POGOs in Bamban and being a Chinese spy. She claims that she was raised on the farm of her father, was homeschooled, and that her maid of a mother left her.
But as weeks passed, authorities discovered discrepancies in several documents involving Guo, as well as holes in her stories.
The Senate has since issued arrest orders against Guo and her family members, ex-government official Dennis Cunanan, and her former accountant Nancy Gamo for skipping hearings on the raided POGO hub in her hometown.