PHILIPPINE IMMIGRATION authorities uncovered a scheme in Mindanao where foreigners use fake Filipino identities to establish businesses hiring illegal aliens.
In a news release Thursday, Melody Penelope Gonzales, BI Intelligence Division Deputy Chief for Administration & Operations–Mindanao, said separate operations in Mlang, North Cotabato and Digos City, Davao del Sur resulted in the apprehension of five Chinese nationals for having questionable documents.
Bangdie Pan, also known as Ditdit, a 50-year-old Chinese national, was arrested in Digos City on March 20. She was found to be actively managing a hardware registered under an alleged Filipino citizen whose identity is now under investigation.
Records revealed that Pan possessed a work visa issued under a company in Pasig City, but she was found working in an unauthorized capacity in Davao del Sur.
Upon investigation, Filipino employees of the hardware admitted that the said Filipino owner was non-existent, and the documentation for its permits were forged.
The foreigner was arrested in coordination with the Philippine Army’s 39th Infantry Battalion, the 1002nd Brigade, the 10th Infantry Division, the Philippine National Police, and the government intelligence operatives in Region 11, for violating Philippine immigration laws.
On the other hand, Zhongyi Tang, 62; Tianpei Wu, 51; Dezhen Liu, 62; and Wang Lianxu, 53, were apprehended on March 24 in Mlang, for illegally working in a chemical manufacturing plant.
Additionally, the BI obtained a birth certificates and documents showing that Liu misrepresented himself as a Filipino.
It added the company is registered under a Filipino woman, whom other employees said they have not seen since the opening of the business. Plant employees admitted that the owner is actually a Chinese man based in Manila.
All five Chinese nationals face deportation charges.
Meanwhile, Commissioner Joel Anthony Viado expressed concern over the matter since illegal aliens are able to acquire Philippine documentation to use them in opening businesses in the country.
“These documents and new identities may be used by foreigners with mal-intent, and could be exploited by possible spies embedding themselves in society by pretending to be Filipinos,” Viado said, as he called for tighter regulations in the issuance of Filipino documents and identification cards to prevent exploitation by illegal aliens.
The crackdown aligns with President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s directive to strengthen border security and protect the nation from external threats. (Ferdinand Patinio)
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