The Manila Regional Trial Court has nullified the election of Alice Guo as mayor of Bamban, Tarlac, ruling that she is a Chinese national and was never eligible to hold public office in the Philippines.
In a 67-page decision dated June 27, 2025, RTC Branch 34 Judge Liwliwa S. Hidalgo-Bucu declared Guo’s mayorship void, stating that Guo and a certain Guo Hua Ping—identified as the same individual—are both Chinese citizens. The ruling stemmed from a quo warranto petition filed by the Office of the Solicitor General.
The court’s findings were supported by fingerprint evidence from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), confirming that Guo Hua Ping and Alice Guo are one and the same. This contradicted earlier denials from Guo’s camp during Senate investigations.
The court emphasized that Guo’s Philippine passport and birth certificate failed to establish valid Filipino citizenship. It noted that Guo and her Chinese parents arrived in the country from Fujian, China in 1999 using Chinese passports.
As a result of the decision, Guo’s proclamation as mayor was deemed void from the outset. The court said she had no legal right to run for office and described her as a “usurper” of the position.
Guo had previously faced multiple allegations, including using a false identity, involvement in a POGO syndicate, and being a Chinese spy—all of which she denied.
Her removal followed an earlier decision by the Office of the Ombudsman, which dismissed her from service in August 2024 for grave misconduct.*
Reymund Titong is a Filipino journalist steadily building his voice in the field of news reporting, driven by a commitment to tell meaningful and relevant stories.
He serves as a correspondent for Rappler, maintains a personal blog on Medium, and is the communications officer of Hope Builders Organization Negros Island.