FACT CHECK: No Marcos order to arrest Bamban Mayor Alice Guo

Claim: President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has ordered the arrest of embattled Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo.

Rating: FALSE

Why we fact-checked this: The YouTube video has over 26,653 views as of writing.

The claim can be seen in its thumbnail, which shows a photo collage of Marcos and Guo with large text that says, “Kulong ang hatol! Grabe! Ito na matinding utos sa pangulo” (The verdict is arrest! This is the order from the President!)

Facts: Marcos has not given any orders to arrest the mayor, who is in hot water for her alleged links to illegal Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs).

There are no sections in Article VII of the 1987 Philippine Constitution that grants the country’s president the power to arrest individuals. 

Section 6, Rule 112 of the Rules of Court of the Philippines states that a judge must issue an arrest warrant if preliminary examination shows that “the offense complained of has been committed and that there is reasonable ground to believe that the accused has com­mitted it.”

Kinds of arrest: Sections 5 and 6 of Rule 113 of the Rules of Court states that aside from an arrest upon the order of a judge, a peace officer or a private person may arrest a person without warrant under the following situations:

• When the person to be arrested has committed, is actually committing, or is about to commit an offense in his presence;
• When an offense has in fact been committed, and he has reasonable ground to believe that the person to be arrested has committed it;
• When the person to be arrested is a prisoner who has escaped from a penal establishment or place where he is serving final judgment or temporarily confined while his case is pending, or has escaped while being transferred from one confinement to another.

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Suspension not arrest: The Ombudsman ordered the preventive suspension of Guo and two Bamban officials in an order dated May 31 as authorities investigate their alleged involvement in the illegal activities of a POGO hub in the municipality. (READ: Tracing the evidence: The gov’t raid that exposed Mayor Alice Guo’s link to POGOs)

On June 5, Guo filed a motion for reconsideration urging the Ombudsman to rescind the suspension order, asserting that the evidence against her has “no basis either in fact and in law (but) are based on mere surmises, speculations, opinions.”

Aside from her alleged POGO links, the Bamban mayor also faces questions on irregularities in her birth records, prompting accusations that she is a spy for China. (READ: 5 things that don’t add up in Mayor Alice Guo’s Senate testimony)

Fake presidential orders: Rappler has debunked a similar claim about an alleged order from Marcos to banish Guo from the Philippines and has debunked other fake presidential orders in the past:

• FACT CHECK: No Marcos order to shut down PCSO
• FACT CHECK: No Marcos order expelling China from West PH Sea
• FACT CHECK: No Marcos-Duterte order for Arnold Clavio to leave the country
• FACT CHECK: Marcos, Duterte did not order Vice Ganda to leave the country

– Lorenz Pasion/Rappler.com

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