Tovic Salvador

Wanted: A law that prevents future Alice Guos

Article (news)

David Dizon

ABS-CBN News

Congress must pass a law that prevents future Alice Guos from running for office in Philippine elections, the country’s elections chief said Monday.Commission on Elections Chairman George Garcia said the poll body’s job in accepting certificates of candidacies is purely ministerial “as long as it is notarized, all items are complete and documentary stamp is paid for” unless someone officially questions a candidate’s citizenship.In the 2025 elections alone, a total of 44,000 candidates submitted their certificates of candidacies.In the case of Alice Guo, Garcia said no one filed a disqualification complaint when she filed her certificate of candidacy in Bamban until she ran, won and took her oath as mayor. The Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 34 recently ruled that Guo, the ousted mayor of Bamban, Tarlac, is <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/6/29/court-alice-guo-is-chinese-term-as-bamban-mayor-is-void-1114">actually Chinese national Guo Hua Ping</a> and that her appointment and entire mayoral term is declared void.<div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/10/8/guo-a-confirmed-spy-whose-campaign-was-supported-by-china-s-state-security-video-1135">Guo a spy whose campaign was arranged by China, pal of alleged Chinese spy says</a></div>“Hindi kami required at hindi kami obligado na manghingi ng dagdag na dokumento para lang patunayan na ang idineklara sa certificates of candidacy ay eksakto o tama kasi bawal po yan sabi ng Korte Suprema,” Garcia said in a DZMM interview.He pointed out the Supreme Court even threw out a requirement that candidates submit a certification that they are not drug addicts.His solution? Congress must create a law that requires candidates to add birth certificates to their certificates of candidacy “to prove that the candidate is a Filipino and that both parents are Filipinos.”&quot;You need a deeper, wider presentation of evidence to determine real citizenship,&quot; he said.Garcia said that without this requirement, there is also a possibility that foreigners can run for national positions such as Filipinos who acquire foreign citizenship abroad and fail to renounce it before they are appointed or elected.He also cited the case of Luis “Joey” Chua Uy, who was disqualified from Manila 6th District congressional  race for not being a natural-born Filipino.

Congress must pass a law that prevents future Alice Guos from running for office in Philippine elections, the country’s elections chief said Monday.

Congress must pass a law that prevents future Alice Guos from running for office in Philippine elections, the country’s elections chief said Monday.