BAMBAN, Tarlac (July 1, 2024) — Acting Mayor Leonardo Anunciacion will likely remain at the helm of this town until next year’s local elections.
This is the scenario after the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) announced that it is planning to file an election-related case against suspended Mayor Alice Guo after the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) revealed that the embattled local chief executive matched the fingerprints of Chinese national Guo Hua Ping.
COMELEC chairman George Garcia said the poll body might file a “misrepresentation” case against Guo.
Guo filed her Certificate of Candidacy in 2021, claiming she is a Filipino. She ran and won in the 2022 local elections as an independent candidate before joining the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) in August 2023. The NPC expelled her from the party last month.
NBI Director Jaime Santiago said dactyloscopy (fingerprinting) is an “infallible science of identification.”
“Hindi po ito nagkakamali dahil walang dalawang tao sa buong mundo, even twins, ay magkapareho ang fingerprints,” Santiago said during an interview on News 5.
Anunciacion remains mum on his political plans and refrains from talking to the media. He was Bamban’s mayor from 2001-2004 and then again from 2007-2013.