A YouTube video claims that controversial Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo has been removed from her post. This is false. While there are moves to suspend Guo, there has been no order dismissing her from office.
Uploaded on May 19, the video bore photos of Guo, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos along with a text saying:
“TANGGAL SA PWESTO. MASTERMIND UNDERGROUND TUNNELS BINUKING (Removed from office. Mastermind underground tunnels exposed).”
Its headline read: “Just in Pres Marcos UMAMIN Mayor Alice Guo Bistado Benhur Abalos Kumilos Underground Tunnels Luxury. (Just in. President Marcos confessed. Mayor Alice Guo exposed. Benhur Abalos acted underground tunnels luxury).”
Guo remains as mayor of Bamban although the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) has recommended her preventive suspension to the Ombudsman over “troubling findings of illegal acts.”
Under Republic Act 6770, the Ombudsman has the power to suspend or dismiss erring local government officials.
The DILG also ordered the National Police Commission to start proceedings to revoke Guo’s authority over her town’s local police force.
Meanwhile, it is also not true that Marcos has exposed anything about Guo’s alleged wrongdoing. The president just said that recently surfaced photos of himself and Guo “proves nothing” as several similar pictures were taken during his presidential campaign in 2022.
The video emerged amid an ongoing Senate investigation into Guo’s alleged involvement in a Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) hub raided in Bamban on March 13. She was also accused of being a Chinese spy after lawmakers raised doubts over her nationality due to inconsistencies in her birth and school records.
In a May 20 statement, Guo denied being involved in POGO operations and said that she was not a Chinese citizen. She also said in an ABS-CBN News interview that she will not resign and that she will run again as mayor in the upcoming 2025 midterm polls.
Uploaded by previously fact-checked YouTube channel NEWSFILES, the erroneous video has drawn 82,038 interactions. Facebook users also reposted the link.
