“Ako po ay isang Filipino.”
That is what controversial Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo immediately answered to ABS-CBN news anchor Karen Davila in an exclusive interview.
Davila first asked Guo whether she is a Filipino or not, before probing her further about her personal background.
WHO IS MAYOR ALICE GUO?
Mayor Guo explained that she is a Filipino passport-holder and that her biological mother is a Filipina, which she had not seen and been with growing up.
Although, she disclosed that her father is Chinese and uses a Chinese passport.
Guo detailed that she only learned at age 12 or 14 from her father that her biological mother used to be the housemaid of his father’s first wife.
Davila also questioned Guo about why she did not share this during the Senate hearings on the illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations (POGO) centers in Bamban, Tarlac.
“Para sa akin po, masyado po siyang private po. Para sa akin po, hindi ko po siya kayang sabihin sa tao na iniwanan ako ng sarili kong ina,” the Bamban Mayor responded.
As to why she did not answer directly some questions during the Senate hearing, Guo said that she went “blank,” “afraid,” and “did not want to lie.”
She also apologized to Senator Risa Hontiveros, who is leading the Senate probe on POGOs.
Mayor Alice also recalled the comments she received on social media, such as those suggesting her to be “deported.”
“… ‘yung sarili kong ina iniwanan ako, ngayon ‘yung sarili kong bansa tatalikuran ako? Ide-deport po ako saan? Sa Malaysia, China, Singapore? Isa lang po ang passport ko at isa po akong Filipino.”
Mayor Alice also told Karen that she was “hidden” and raised inside their family’s hog farm, which was also the reason why she did not have formal education and did not have pertinent documents earlier in her life.
“Nung bata ako, sabi niya sa akin (Guo’s father), importante lang [ay] marunong ako magsulat… mag-read… magsalita at ang pinaka-importante sa lahat ay marunong ako mag-calculate.”
During the Senate panel investigation, it was revealed that Mayor Guo’s birth was only registered at the age of 17.
In media reports, she was also found out to have only registered as a voter of Bamban, Tarlac more than a year before the 2022 elections were held.
“Kahit ayaw ko na pong banggitin ‘yung salitang ‘I don’t know’ o ‘hindi ko po alam’ kasi ginawa po nila akong kahihiyan sa sinagot ko, pero ganunpaman, yun po ulit ang isasagot ko — hindi ko alam,” Guo answered the query about the late registration of her birth certificate.
She also clarified her previous statement about her educational background, where she said that she was “homeschooled” by a certain ‘Teacher Rubilyn.’
“Ang homeschooling po na ibig ko po sabihin ay pumupunta po sa bahay, sa bahay po ako tinuturuan,” before adding that even employees of their farm also took turns in teaching her and that the education she received was not the one prescribed by the Department of Education (DepEd).
Guo also said that she did not come “out of nowhere” and that a lot of people, mostly suppliers and buyers of their farm from Bamban and other municipalities, have known her prior to her entry into politics.
ON POGOs IN BAMBAN
Davila then grilled the mayor on the primary issue that is her alleged involvement in the operations of POGO in their municipality.
Guo clarified that she did not personally apply for a license to operate POGO and that she only helped a company get a “letter of no objection” (LONO) from the previous Bamban mayor.
“Negosyo ko po farming, it so happened po na nabili ko ‘yung lupa [na] kung saan nakatayo ‘yung Baofu ngayon.”
Baofu is more than 7-hectare land located just behind the municipal hall of Bamban, Tarlac. It was subjected to a raid by local authorities, first in February 2023, and then again last March 2024 over illegal operations conducted by POGO operators inside the compound.
Guo disclosed that she acquired the lot for Php 700 per square meter in 2018, which she paid on an installment basis.
Afterwards, she met businessmen who operated a restaurant in Clark, Pampanga to offer their farm’s meat products. It was these very people to whom she offered the land to be used.
Mayor Alice also claimed that out of the more than 7-hectare Baofu development, only one building was leased and used by POGO. As for the other parts of the site, she described it as a “mixed-use development” that includes a commercial mall and residential buildings.
When the first group was already in the process of developing the plot of land, it was when the first POGO company Hong Sheng entered the frame to lease the building space, Mayor Guo stated.
“Noong mag-re-rent na po sa kanila, in-introduce ko po si Hong Sheng doon sa former mayor [of Bamban]. Kung meron po na mga questions na ‘di niya masagot, ako [ang] mag-translate.”
Guo said that her participation was only for Hong Sheng to get the “letter of no objection” (LONO) from the town’s then-Mayor, which she earlier said, and that she had not been part of the company’s operations.
But Davila brought out a resolution from the municipal government, which listed Alice Guo’s name — thereby, in effect, making her the applicant for the license or permit of the POGO.
“Wala naman pong record na magsasabi na nag-apply ako. In-introduce ko lang po sila… at afterwards po ay ‘di ko na rin po nabigyan ng pansin [‘yung] nakalagay na representative,” before reiterating that she only helped the company get a LONO.
However, her name Alice Guo was written in the said resolution.
For the record, she said that she divested her stake in Baofu prior to running, and eventually winning, as the mayor of Bamban. Guo stated that she sold the land to a certain Filipino Jack Uy, who was introduced by a group of Chinese.
On her stance about POGOs, Mayor Alice Guo says that she is now “against” after the raids in Bamban, specifically the Baofu site in 2023 and 2024.
In 2023, authorities raided Hong Sheng and it was discovered to have held 500 Filipinos and 300 foreign nationals captive in an apparent human trafficking activity and operations of a cryptocurrency scam.
Meanwhile, in March 2024, a second company Zun Yuan Technology was busted by the Presidential Anti-Organized Crimes Commission (PAOCC), which also revealed their alarming human trafficking activities, on top of their scamming operations.
“As long as ako po ang Mayor, I will no longer allow any POGO operation in my town,” she added.
Explaining why she had allowed the entry of Zun Yuan even after the raid of Hong Sheng in 2023: “Before po… noong humingi po ang Zun Yuan ng LONO (letter of no objections) doon sa mga konsehal ko po, ang paliwanag po nila sa akin ay: “Mayora, trabaho.””
“Second-class municipality lang po kami [at] ang mga kababayan namin ay kailangan ng trabaho. [So,] sinabi ko po doon sa mga konsehal: “As long as mayroon pong lisensya ng PAGCOR, papayag ako. Kapag walang lisensya ng PAGCOR, never again.”
Mayor Alice says that she granted the permit to Zun Yuan as the company obtained a permit from gambling authority PAGCOR.
On whether she has ever visited the compound as mayor, Guo shared that she never stepped foot on it over fears of it becoming a “conflict of interest.”
Instead, she sent out her team to visit and inspect the site, citing that there was even one conducted “a week or two” prior to the PAOCC raid of Zun Yuan.
As for the benefits reaped by the town over the investment of these POGOs, Mayor Guo shared that these provided employment to some 200 people in her municipality and an estimated tax collection of Php 15 million for the first quarter of 2024 — which was supposed to be paid in late March by Zun Yuan.
Meanwhile, she also said that over the course of the operations of the POGOs in Bamban, the town’s police had never received any reports about any illegal activities, which she says she would have responded to should they have reached her office.
WEALTH AND POWER
“Hindi po ako ganoong ka-powerful po,” Guo said on the allegations that she allowed POGOs to stay in Bamban because of her ties with these companies.
As for her photo beside a Php 33 million-worth McLaren car, Mayor Alice says that it was taken during a car show in Concepcion, Tarlac and that she borrowed the car from a friend and sent it in as an entry to the said event.
“I don’t own the McLaren,” she directly told Davila.
However, she confirmed anew that she used to own a chopper, which would have been utilized for her planned “air taxi” business.
But Guo clarified that she sold the chopper due to low demand earlier this year.
The controversial mayor also answered why she has not been in her office since the hearing, Guo said that she has been going to work, but by engaging directly with the villages under her purview.
“Anuman po ang aking obligasyon sa aking constituents, sa aking mga kababayan, ginagawa ko po lahat.”
She also said that her reason to not go to the municipal hall was partly due to the reporters that have swarmed her office, as she was “not yet ready” to face them.
‘NOT A SPY’
“Hindi po ako spy,” that is her retort to the accusations that she is a spy sent in by China.
“Ayan po ang masakit sa akin. Hindi po ako spy. Ako po ay isang Filipino at mahal ko po ang sarili kong bayan.”
She also denied being an “asset.”
POLITICAL PLANS
Without hesitations, Mayor Alice confirmed that she will run for re-elections in the upcoming 2025 midterm polls.
Albeit, she did not directly state whether she has joined a party or alliance in either local, provincial, or national levels.
Guo ran in the 2022 elections as an independent candidate and won the polls by a mere 468 votes against her nearest opponent.
Trendrod 