The birth certificate of accused Chinese spy and human trafficker Alice Guo has been voided by a trial court in Tarlac, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority.
At a Senate finance committee hearing yesterday, PSA chief Dennis Mapa told senators that on Sept. 24, the Tarlac City Regional Trial Court Branch 11 granted a petition filed by the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) to cancel Guo’s certificate of live birth.
‘This is good news for the Philippine government, that it was able to declare as void Alice Guo’s birth certificate,’ Mapa said.
The court ruling came a year after the PSA endorsed to the (OSG) the cancellation of Guo’s birth certificate.
In several incidents in the past, Guo insisted that she was a Filipino, although she was a native-born Chinese. She was accused of spying for the Chinese Communist Party and of faking her Philippine citizenship to be able to run and win in the mayoral race in Bamban, Tarlac.
Prosecutors say Guo used the position to set up an offshore gaming hub in the town, which became a center for human trafficking.
She is accused of taking advantage of the country’s late birth registration system to fraudulently obtain her Filipino citizenship, set up businesses and run for government office.
Guo’s citizenship was questioned due to her inconsistent testimonies about her background.
She is facing multiple charges in connection with her alleged involvement in Philippine offshore gaming operators, which have been linked to human trafficking and other illegal activities.
Senate finance committee chair Sherwin Gatchalian said the system that allows registration years after birth paved the way for foreigners with ill intent to infiltrate the country and become fake Filipinos.
‘One of the biggest gaps in terms of espionage in our country is the late registration process. This is a weakness in our system that can be exploited by people who want to create problems in terms of our country’s national security,’ Gatchalian said.
At the plenary session on Wednesday, Sen. Risa Hontiveros exposed in a privilege speech another case of fraudulent late birth registration, this time involving a son of a mining magnate.
Hontiveros said the subject person also has two passports – Filipino and Chinese – and two birth certificates.