“All warfare is based on deception” is among the most significant principles in Sun Tzu’s military treatise, The Art of War. Having been deceived by a Chinese national portraying themselves as a natural-born Filipino, it can be assumed that the Philippine government has been hit with an opening salvo in their tensions with the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
Continuing from the mystery of a certain “Alice Leal Guo“, the mayor of a small town in Tarlac province, Philippine Senators Risa Hontiveros and Sherwin Gatchalian both found the smoking gun proving that her assumed identity is fraudulent. Rather than a natural-born Filipino named “Alice Guo”, the elected local government official is actually a Chinese national who migrated to the country in 2003 named Guo Hua Ping.
Suspicion was first cast when “Alice Guo” faced a Senate investigation over an illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) site operating just behind the Bamban, Tarlac municipal hall. Rather than be grilled over her knowledge of the POGO site neighboring her office, Guo faced difficulty answering basic questions about her identity – such as her siblings’ names or where she went to school.
Last June 18, Sen. Gatchalian bared the identity of a Chinese immigrant to the Philippines with the name “Guo Hua Ping”, who entered the country as a 13-year old with her parents on an investors’ visa. The revelation, if true, would mean that “Alice Guo” is not eligible for elected office in the Philippines and more so, has committed identity theft by assuming the identity of a different person.
This week, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) reported that the fingerprints of “Alice Leal Guo” matched that on record of Guo Hua Ping – leaving no doubt that the Bamban town mayor is really a Chinese national pretending to be a Filipino. It was under Sen. Hontiveros’ directive that the NBI compared the mayor’s and Guo Hua Ping’s biometrics, specifically ensuring their fingerprints, and with the discovery she declared that Guo “is a Chinese national masquerading as [a] Filipino citizen to facilitate crimes being committed by POGOs.”
This meant that Guo had access to confidential briefings only available to elected officials in the Philippines – despite being a foreigner. Given the present climate of Philippines-China relations, such a predicament would be very dangerous to the Philippines’ affairs.
If Guo is an asset of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), she would have been able to pass on sensitive information and even intelligence briefings she had received from state authorities to her masters. Hontiveros’ assessment is reminiscent of another principle in Sun Tzu’s treatise: “The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.”
It also pays to remember why POGOs became a hot button issue in Philippine politics in the first place. Rather than being legitimate foreign-owned businesses, these operations became fronts for criminal activity to occur such as online scams, human trafficking, and even mercenary killings.
With the revelations surrounding Guo’s true identity, what we can deduce is that an asset of a foreign government entered the country, reached a position where she could make decisions, and used that power to allow disruptive criminal entities to take hold in the Philippines.
In summation, Guo had a clear goal in becoming mayor: to destabilize the country.
The revelations about Guo’s true identity has bolstered Hontiveros’ and Gatchalian’s campaign to remove the Bamban town mayor from her elected post, and also ensure she faces criminal charges for being the operator of the POGO behind the Bamban municipal hall.
Hontiveros has also committed to ensuring Guo faces jail time in the Philippines, before she is ultimately deported back to China. Holding the CCP sleeper agent culpable to her crimes and for deceiving the Filipino people is well and truly established, but the work should not end there.
A bigger mission for Hontiveros and co. would be to unravel the full extent of China’s deception in the Philippines. How did Guo receive enough support to become mayor? Who else knew of her true identity, but never bothered to expose it for their own benefit?
Moreover, how many other “Alice Guos” are currently operating in the Philippines? If there is an elaborate plot to infiltrate the Philippines by the CCP, they couldn’t possibly limit it to such a small town like Bamban, Tarlac?
These are the questions that now need the most urgent answers, and the exposé on Guo’s identity will inevitably open further inquiries that will answer those questions.