Manila [Philippines], July 31: Philippine lawmakers are calling for a DNA test on a female mayor suspected of being Chinese, amid reports she traveled abroad on a Chinese passport.
Philippine Daily Inquirer on July 31 quoted Philippine Senator Sherwin Gatchalian calling on Mayor Alice Guo to undergo a DNA test with a Chinese citizen suspected to be her biological mother, amid reports that she had fled using a Chinese passport .
The proposal comes after controversy over the dubious background of Ms Guo, mayor of Bamban town in Tarlac province, when it emerged that she was actually Chinese.
"It's easy to make up a story. That's why the best thing now is for both of them to undergo a DNA test to prove that this information that is circulating is fake, because it can strengthen her position," Gatchalian told Radyo 630.
Previously, Ms. Guo claimed that she was a Filipino citizen and the illegitimate child of her father and his maid. She even produced a birth certificate showing her mother's name as Amelia Leal.
However, Senator Risa Hontiveros presented several documents to the media showing a suspected relationship between Ms. Guo and a Chinese citizen named Lam Van Y.
Rep. Hontiveros noted that Lam was one of Ms. Guo's co-founders in at least seven businesses. Earlier, Rep. Gatchalian said local residents could confirm that Lam was known as the mayor 's mother .
He also cited flight records showing that Lam had traveled with the mayor's father, Guo Jingang, at least 170 times over seven to eight years, mostly to China.
Ms. Guo was suspended from office and had an arrest warrant issued by the Senate for failing to attend a hearing on charges related to illegal offshore gambling companies in the Philippines.
National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Director Jaime Santiago said on July 29 that agents and intelligence units from the NBI headquarters are hunting for the female mayor .
The Filipino Times quoted Congressman Gatchalian as saying that Ms. Guo may have left the Philippines using a Chinese passport.
The NBI believes that Ms. Guo and Chinese citizen Guo Hua Ping are the same person. Congressman Gatchalian said that Ms. Guo used her Philippine and Chinese passports from 2008 to 2011.
Guo's lawyer Stephen David confirmed about two weeks ago that his client was still in the Philippines.
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper
