OSG forms team to probe mayor
THE OFFICE of the Solicitor-General (OSG) said on Thursday it has formed a team to investigate a mayor at the center of controversy over her citizenship and legal right to hold public office.
In a Viber message to BusinessWorld, Solicitor General Menardo I. Guevarra said: “I created a special team of solicitors last week to look into the matter and determine if there is good reason to believe that the subject is unlawfully holding or exercising a public office.”
The team, he said, is working with the Commission on Elections (Comelec), the Departments of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and of Education (DepEd), the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), and the Bureau of Immigration (BI), among others.
“We’re in the fact-finding stage. If there’s enough factual basis, the OSG may consider a quo warranto proceeding,” said Mr. Guevarra.
In a Senate hearing last week, Senator Ana Theresia “Risa” N. Hontiveros-Baraquel questioned the mayor’s citizenship after pointing out alleged irregularities in the information presented on her background, calling them “dubious.”
Comelec Chairman George Erwin M. Garcia said a quo warranto may be filed by the OSG against the mayor because “citizenship and residency are continuing qualifications to hold public office.”
However, he explained that when Comelec had accepted her certificate of candidacy (CoC) to run for mayor back in 2022, their duty in that official transaction was merely “ministerial.”
Comelec Spokesman John Rex C. Laudiangco, in a separate Viber message, told BusinessWorld that since the mayor already took her oath and assumed office after her proclamation, questions about her qualification to remain in her post is now within DILG’s jurisdiction.
“The jurisdiction of Comelec as far as candidates are concerned, starts from the filing of the candidacy and ends upon proclamation,” Mr. Garcia said.
BusinessWorld reached out repeatedly to the mayor in question, but did not receive a reply.
Speaking in Cagayan de Oro City on Thursday, President Ferdinand R. Marcos. Jr. addressed the issue, saying that the mayor had long been under investigation.
“I know all the politicians from Tarlac, and no one knows her,” Mr. Marcos, speaking in Filipino, said. “So, we are wondering where she came from?”
He said that apart from the Senate, the Bureau of Immigration should also be investigating the truth behind the mayor’s identity and origin.
Earlier, the mayor was being linked to the operation of a Philippine Overseas Gaming Operator in her town which had employed hundreds of Chinese citizens. — with a report from Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza