MANILA — The Senate committee investigating controversial Bamban Mayor Alice Guo is reaching out to the Chinese Embassy to check her identity, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian said Thursday.

"The committee is already doing that," Gatchalian told ANC when asked if the Senate has reached out to the embassy to determine the truth surrounding Guo's nationality.

"In fact, we sent a letter to the committee to already initiate proceedings coordinating with the Chinese Embassy," he said.

Gatchalian said they need to follow protocols regarding the move, adding they have to go through the Department of Foreign Affairs first.

"We cannot go straight to the Chinese Embassy because of these protocols, but we are coordinating and getting relevant information," he said.

Citing documents, Gatchalian had said he was convinced that Alice Guo entered the Philippines as a Chinese child — named Guo Hua Ping — on January 12, 2003, when she was 13 years old.

READ: Is Bamban Mayor Alice Guo’s real name Hua Ping Guo?

The documents were provided by the Board of Investments from the Guo family's application for Special Investors Resident Visa (SIRV) and the Bureau of Immigration, Gatchalian said.

He said Guo Hua Ping's registered mother under the SIRV is Lin Wenyi.

Guo in a statement on Wednesday denied Gatchalian's accusations, saying she does not know anything about the documents bared by Gatchalian.

"Ayon kay Mayor Guo, ang kanyang tunay na ina ay si Amelia Leal at ang kanyang totoong pangalan ay Alice Leal Guo na nakasaad sa kanyang birth certificate at hindi Guo Hua Ping na ibinibintang ni Senator Gatchalian," the statement said.

In the ANC interview, Gatchalian doubled down on his accusation that Guo is a Chinese citizen, adding Guo should be deported because "she's not Filipino."

"If you’re not Filipino you need a visa a Philippine visa to stay in the country. But since her Special Investors Resident Visa was already canceled in 2011 she no longer holds a visa to stay in the country," the lawmaker said.

Guo has repeatedly said she is a Filipino citizen and that her biological mother is a Filipino.

Guo's counsel Atty. Stephen David also pointed out on TeleRadyo Serbisyo on Wednesday that if his client has a Chinese passport, she should no longer need to get a Chinese visa because a Chinese passport is already valid in China.

READ: Mayor Alice Guo insists she is not Hua Ping Guo

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