Former Bamban mayor Alice Guo (AKA Guo Hua Ping) and five others have been formally charged by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) for falsification by a notary public, the use of falsified documents, perjury, and obstruction of justice, according to a Philippine News Agency (PNA) news article.
To put things in perspective, posted below is an excerpt from the PNA news article. Some parts in boldface…
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on Thursday filed additional criminal charges before the Department of Justice (DOJ) against former Bamban, Tarlac mayor Alice Guo and five others over the irregularities in her filing of a sworn counter-affidavit in another case.
Named respondents were Guo, lawyer Elmer Galicia, Dante Catapay, Cheryl Medina, Catherine Salazar, and Geraldine Pepito.
“The cases we filed against them are falsification by a notary public, use of falsified documents, perjury, and obstruction of justice,” NBI Director Jaime Santiago said in a press briefing.
The charges arose from a motion to re-open filed by Guo’s lawyers in a separate charge for qualified trafficking against her.
Legislators concluded that Guo could not have signed the motion before the notary as she had already fled the country by that time.
NBI Chief Fraud and Financial Crimes Division and Task Force Alice Guo head Palmer Mallari said the investigation involved original documents from before and after Guo slipped out of the country.
“We collected sample signatures on original documents before the Bamban municipality as prior sample specimen signatures. We also collected sample specimen signatures purportedly signed subsequent to the days of the counter affidavit. This is for purposes of submitting that to our document division,” Mallari said.
“After the examination of our QDD (NBI- Questioned Documents Division), it was proven that the sample signatures appearing on all those documents as compared to the supposed signature appearing on the CA were not written by one and the same person,” he said.
Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said they would most likely pursue the administrative complaint before the Supreme Court (SC) against Galicia, the notary public.
“Dapat lang (Absolutely), we should pursue (the complaint),” he said.
Santiago, a retired lower court judge also said the claims made during the legislative inquiries by Guo’s staff that they had prepared signed “last pages” meant to be attached to filings on behalf of the dismissed mayor “is unacceptable.”
“No, that’s irregular. The affidavit should be signed in the presence of the notary public,” he said.
Let me end this post by asking you readers: What is your reaction to this recent development? Do you think Alice Guo and the others who got charged can still prove their innocence? Are many people in your local community aware that the falsification of signatures on documents for public notary is a serious crime?
You may answer in the comments below. If you prefer to answer privately, you may do so by sending me a direct message online.
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