By Benjamin Pulta | Philippine News Agency
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on Thursday filed additional criminal charges before the Department of Justice (DOJ) against former Bamban, Tarlac mayor Alice Guo and five others over the irregularities in her filing of a sworn counter-affidavit in another case.
Named respondents were Guo, lawyer Elmer Galicia, Dante Catapay, Cheryl Medina, Catherine Salazar, and Geraldine Pepito.
“The cases we filed against them are falsification by a notary public, use of falsified documents, perjury, and obstruction of justice,” NBI Director Jaime Santiago said in a press briefing.
The charges arose from a motion to reopen filed by Guo’s lawyers in a separate charge for qualified trafficking against her.
Legislators concluded that Guo could not have signed the motion before the notary as she had already fled the country by that time.
NBI Chief Fraud and Financial Crimes Division and Task Force Alice Guo head Palmer Mallari said the investigation involved original documents from before and after Guo slipped out of the country.
“We collected sample signatures on original documents before the Bamban municipality as prior sample specimen signatures. We also collected sample specimen signatures purportedly signed subsequent to the days of the counter affidavit. This is for purposes of submitting that to our document division,” Mallari said.
“After the examination of our QDD (NBI – Questioned Documents Division), it was proven that the sample signatures appearing on all those documents as compared to the supposed signature appearing on the CA were not written by one and the same person,” he said.
Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said they would most likely pursue an administrative complaint before the Supreme Court (SC) against Galicia, the notary public.
“Dapat lang, we should pursue,” he said.
Santiago, a retired lower court judge, also said the claims made during the legislative inquiries by Guo’s staff that they had prepared the signed “last pages” meant to be attached to filings on behalf of the dismissed mayor “is unacceptable.”
“No, that’s irregular. The affidavit should be signed in the presence of the notary public,” he said.
Chinese agent
Authorities, meanwhile, said they are still studying closely the statements made by Chinese business tycoon She Zhijiang who admitted to being an agent of the Chinese government and who identified Guo as a fellow operative.
The self-confessed Chinese agent, who is being detained in Thailand, made the statement in an Al Jazeera news report, claiming that he had regularly met with Guo and warned her of whom to trust.
Guo has denied Zhijiang’s allegations.
“Kailangan namin na mag-conduct ng investigation no’ng declaration ng nakakulong na ’yon. Bine-verify namin mabuti ’yong claims niya,” Santiago said.
Remulla reiterated his office’s deep concern over the implications of the report.
“These allegations are very serious allegations. We take that seriously, especially [since] there [are other] things involved. There are other things we have to look at: her birth certificate, Philippine passport—kung paano nakuha,” he said.
“Itong nakita natin kay Alice Guo reminds us that we have national security concerns on these matters, where fake identity is involved,” he added.
Remulla said they are also investigating reports of driver’s licenses being issued to foreigners without clearance from the Bureau of Immigration.
“May national security implications itong false identities or authentic documents with false information in them, and not properly secured… [by] the holders of these documents,” he concluded.