EDITORIAL - Alice unbowed

Dismissed as mayor of Bamban, Tarlac and detained without bail, Alice Guo is unbowed. Yesterday, as the latest complaint was filed against her by the National Bureau of Investigation for falsification of documents, her lawyer Stephen David announced that she would seek reelection in 2025.

Government lawyers and Commission on Elections officials have said that Guo can run for public office in the absence of a final ruling on the multiple cases filed against her for offenses including faking her Philippine citizenship, misrepresentation in her candidacy in 2022 and the numerous criminal activities linked to an illegal Philippine offshore gaming operator hub in Bamban.

If Guo pushes through with her bid for reelection, it would not be entirely unique. In previous elections, even convicts have won and held office behind bars. Until a final ruling is issued, mainly by the Supreme Court, convicts cannot be barred from holding public office.

This is made possible because of the glacial pace and inefficiency of justice and regulatory processes in this country. If the accusations against her are true, Guo – said to be Chinese national Guo Hua Ping – has already caused national embarrassment by faking her Philippine citizenship, making a successful bid for mayor, getting wealthy on POGO operations, and then escaping on a yacht when she got caught. A gaming tycoon now detained in Thailand and fighting extradition to China has claimed that he and Guo Hua Ping are spies for the Chinese government.

It would be a slap on the face of the government if Guo manages to run in 2025, and worse, if she wins. Commission on Elections spokesman John Rex Laudiangco said that unlike in the case of nuisance candidates, the poll body cannot act motu proprio to disqualify Guo from the 2025 race. He said a complaint must be filed with the Comelec and the case must achieve sufficient progress to ensure her exclusion from the ballot for 2025.

Someone should do this as soon as Guo files her certificate of candidacy. The country already became a laughingstock when Guo surfaced in Indonesia, and then again when she struck a cutesy pose between Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos and Philippine National Police chief Gen. Rommel Marbil, who found it necessary to personally pick her up in Jakarta and escort her back to the Philippines first class on a chartered jet. Having her run for reelection – and perhaps even winning amid her notoriety – would be the biggest national embarrassment.