Dismissed Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo said she knew Bulacan lawyer Elmer Galicia who was involved in the fraudulent notarization of her counter-affidavit.
Guo made the admission after the National Bureau of Immigration asked her about her notarized paperwork, her supposed doppelganger, and NBI clearance after she had departed the country for Indonesia.
While waiting for the Indonesian Immigration authorities to grant a clearance before leaving Indonesia last Thursday, NBI Special Task Force’s Atty. Joselito Valle first asked Guo if she knew a lawyer.
Guo said she knew many lawyers, and Valle asked whether she knew Atty. Galicia. The dismissed mayor said, “Yung nagnotaryo? Oo. Kilala ko siya.”
When questioned about the last time she visited Galicia’s office, Guo said, “I will not answer the question.”
Based on a Supreme Court decision in 2018, lawyers shall only notarize a document if the individual signing it directly shows up before them to confirm its contents.
Still, it is not unusual for someone with notarized documentation to never meet the notarizing attorney and use a secretary or legal assistant as a proxy.
Galicia has argued that notwithstanding claims she had left the country as early as July, he personally met Guo on August 14.
The lawyer claimed that Guo and her friends remained inside their car all through the procedure and just rolled down their window to speak with him.
But the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) said Galicia and Guo were unlikely to have personally crossed paths. It seeks to trash Guo’s counter-affidavit.
Guo was taken into custody by Indonesian Police in Tangerang City last Thursday.
She returned to the Philippines early on Friday after being formally turned over to Philippine authorities on Thursday.
Guo is facing several legal issues, including her alleged connection—which she has refuted—to the raided Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) hub in Bamban.
The PNP is now holding the beleaguered mayor in the PNP Custodial Center in Camp Crame, Quezon City.
Guo’s arrest on graft allegations was issued by the Tarlac court, which also granted the Senate’s request for her appearance in the ongoing parliamentary probe into the illicit POGOs.
The aforementioned court also mandated that Guo be brought to the Senate on Monday by the PNP Custodial Center. (TCSP)
