SENATOR Sherwin Gatchalian yesterday said the Senate Committee on Women, Chikdren, Family Relations and Gender Equality will seek the help not only of proper government agencies but possibly that of the Chinese Embassy to establish the real identity of controversial Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo

Gatchalian’s reaction was in response to the continuous denial of Mayor Guo that she is the alleged Guo Hua Ping who entered the country in 2003 when she was 13 years old.

“We will do it through proper channel. The committee headed by Senator Risa Hontiveros will coordinate with the DFA who will send a letter to the Chinese Embassy in order to know the real identity of Guo,” Gatchalian said.

Earlier, Senator Gatchalian said he is very much convinced that Mayor Guo and Guo Hua Ping are one and the same person which he was able to find out through the records from the Bureau of Immigration and the Board of Investments.

He noted that it was the BOI who issued Guo and her family in 2003 a Special Investor’s Resident Visa (SIRV).

Based on the documents, the Guo family and Guo Hua Ping entered the country on January 12, 2003 using the special visa.

It was also listed in the document that the mother of Guo Hua Ping was Lin Wen Yi.

Based on stories, Mayor Guo introduced Lin Wenyi as her mother to their neighbors in Valenzuela City when she was still very young.

“Siya mismo ang nagsasabi sa mga kapitbahay at mga kakilala nila sa Valenzuela na itong si Lin Wenyi ang kanyang tunay na ina. At ang address na binigay niya sa Senado kung saan sila dati nakatira ay pareho sa nakalagay na dokumento nila sa BOI. Gayundin ng taon kung saan sinabi niyang doon itinayo ang embroidery business nila,” Gatchalian said.

Mayor Guo vehemently denied that Lin Wenyi was her biological mother as she insisted that Amelia Leal was her real biological mother which she said she never met in person.

Her contradictory statement raised more suspicion when senators found out that she was not the only child which she earlier claimed.

It was found out later that Mayor Guo and her 3 other sibling were even seen travelling outside of the country.

Gatchalian said he is ready to ask for the assistance of proper government agencies and seek the right technology to dig deeper into the authenticity of the document that will authenticate if Mayor Guo and the one stated in the document, Guo Hua Ping which was provided by the Special Investor’s Resident Visa that has similar features are one and the same.

Gatchalian added that this clearly explained why Mayor Guo had no birth certificates or any school records in the Philippine and has no memory of her childhood.

“Dahil noong pumasok siya sa Pilipinas ay 2003 na at 13 years old na rin siya. At iyon din ang dahilan kung bakit nag-avail ang tatay niya ng late registration dahil nasa China siya talaga noong mga panahon ng kanyang kabataan,” Gatchalian explained.

The investigation stemmed from Gatchalian’s Senate Resolution No. 1053 urging the appropriate Senate panel to investigate the proliferation of fake birth certificates which allow unscrupulous individuals, including foreigners, to secure government-issued IDs, evade immigration laws, and perpetrate crimes.

According to Gatchalian, local syndicates may be behind the proliferation of fake birth as well as the apparent abuse of the late birth registration system.

Senator Loren Legarda agreed with Gatchalian as she insisted that Mayor Guo, who was reportedly a member of the NPC, should be expelled right away in order to protect the credibility and integrity of the party.

Legarda expressed dismay that real Filipinos like one of her staff, cannot even fix the wrong details which appeared in her birth certificate because of demands that they need to comply based on the rules being imposed by the Phil Statistics Authority.

During the Senate deliberations on the PSA’s 2024 budget, the agency said there were at least 300 fake birth certificates that were used to apply for Philippine passports from January to September 2023.

Six of them belonged to foreigners who were issued Philippine passports.

Legarda admitted she is very convinced that Guo and Guo Hua Ping, who entered the country in 2003, are one and the same person due to the evidence provided by the BOI.

“I am convinced that she is not who she says she is. She is not a simple person from the farm as she claimed. I wonder how many Guos are there? Ilan pa kayang Mayor Guo ang dapat hanapin ng gobyerno,” Legarda said during the Kapihan sa Senado media forum in Tagaytay City.

Legarda, who described this as a dangerous precedent, stressed that it is high time proper authorities look for foreigners living in the country who have similar cases like Guo to prevent them from becoming Filipino citizens who can later run for public office.

“I suggest that the PSA temporarily suspended the late registration system while lawmakers are crafting the necessary measures to ensure that this late registration cannot be used and abused by unscrupulous people,” Legarda said.