Ex-mayor Alice Guo skips Philippine election in U-turn to ‘clear my name’

In a dramatic U-turn, dismissed Philippine mayor Alice Guo has announced she will not seek re-election, choosing to focus on fighting her criminal charges and espionage accusations linking her to Chinese intelligence.

“I will not run as mayor. I will face the accusations against me first. I will clear my name first, so it is fair to the constituents that I love,” Guo said at a Senate hearing on Tuesday, the last day of the week-long candidate filing period for next year’s midterm elections.

Her announcement contradicted earlier statements by her lawyer Stephen David, who told local media last week that the former mayor would be filing her candidacy.

David said the courts had not yet ruled on Guo’s cases, and she intended to run again for the mayorship of Bamban town in Tarlac province to “show her love for the people”. He called efforts to disqualify Guo as “just technicalities”.

Lawmakers previously opposed Guo’s intention to run, arguing that she would be committing perjury if she insisted on filing her candidacy.

The Commission on Elections also said on Tuesday that it would file charges against Guo for falsely claiming Filipino citizenship, which would determine her eligibility to hold public office. It previously said it had “no choice but to accept” her candidacy should she file for it because there was no official conclusion on her nationality.