Claim: In a Facebook post, dismissed Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo urged Senator Risa Hontiveros to investigate alleged blank items in the 2025 national budget.
Rating: FALSE
Why we fact-checked this: The Facebook post containing the claim has 2,800 reactions, 3,300 shares, and 665 comments as of writing.
It shows a screenshot of a post from a supposedly verified account named “Mayor Alice Guo.” Guo’s alleged post was directed at Hontiveros. It reads: “With all due respect Senator Risa Hontiveros, I hope you will do the same investigation like what you did to me, on the controversial bicam GAA ‘Blank Entries’ para ma-justify na talagang pro-Filipino ka.”
(With all due respect, Senator Risa Hontiveros, I hope you will do the same investigation like what you did to me, on the controversial [bicameral conference committee] GAA [General Appropriations Act] ‘Blank Entries’ to justify that you are truly pro-Filipino.)
The post also accused Hontiveros of unfair treatment, suggesting she practically “skinned Guo alive” in the Senate when the senator was questioning Guo about her citizenship and alleged ties to illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO).
The post adds: “Pera po ng taumbayan ang pinag uusapan dyan…Ngayon nyo po ipakita ang tapang nyo, at patunayang hindi kayo kasabwat ng gobyerno ni BBM sa maanomalyang pagnanakaw sa kaban ng bayan.”
(This involves the people’s money…Now is the time for you to show your courage and prove you are not complicit with the Bongbong Marcos administration in the anomalous theft of public funds.)
The facts: The supposed post by Guo is fake. On January 27, Guo’s legal team, David and Jamilla Law Offices, issued an official statement denying any connection to the post.
“To address this misinformation circulating online, we unequivocally deny the false and malicious posting and encourage everyone to exercise caution in spreading false and unverified information,” the statement read.
Guo’s official Facebook page was taken down in July 2024, shortly after Hontiveros criticized her for using social media instead of attending Senate investigations. This came after a July 12 post in which Guo defended her Filipino citizenship and rejected false claims against her. Since then, there have been no updates regarding the reactivation of her official page.
Guo’s cases: The dismissed Bamban mayor faces 62 counts of money laundering charges in connection with illegal POGO activities. She also faces charges of trafficking, a graft case, and criminal investigations related to tax evasion.
Guo’s alleged ties to illegal POGOs and questions on her real identity surfaced in 2024 following investigations by a Senate committee headed by Hontiveros.
2025 budget ‘blanks’: The fake post attributed to Guo emerged after former president Rodrigo Duterte and Davao City 3rd District Representative Isidro Ungab flagged “blanks” in the bicameral conference committee report on the recently approved 2025 national budget.
Rappler’s research also found that the blanks were all related to programs of the Department of Agriculture, and the adjustments involved billions of pesos. (READ: Admin allies try to wiggle out of budget brouhaha: Technical staff do final fixes)
Both President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and the Department of Budget and Management dismissed these allegations.
Hontiveros, who opposed the ratification of the then-proposed 2025 budget, also denied allegations of “blank items,” stating she found no discrepancies during the bicameral conference committee report.
She, however, said the allegations are serious and is awaiting further clarification on the issue. – Marjuice Destinado/Rappler.com
Marjuice Destinado is a Rappler intern. She is a third-year political science student at Cebu Normal University (CNU), serving as feature editor of Ang Suga, CNU’s official student publication.
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