FOUR Chinese nationals who are suspected to be behind the proliferation of fraudulently-acquired government-issued identification cards and documents were arrested in Palawan by Bureau of Immigration (BI) agents.
“These foreign nationals use Philippine documents to avoid inspection, buy property, or even interfere in politics,” said BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco, adding that their arrest will definitely hurt the operations of these entities and hopefully put a stop to the proliferation of fraudulently-acquired documents.
The four arrested Chinese men were identified by BI intelligence division Chief Fortunato Manahan, Jr. as Wang Tao, Li Xiaoming, Guo Zhi Yang, and Lyu Zhiyang were arrested in Brgy. San Pedro in Palawan City.
Manahan said the operation was conducted in coordination with the Naval Forces West, National Intelligence Coordinating Agency 4B and the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
Manahan added that Lyu, who bore the alias Ken Garcia Lee, was allegedly the mastermind of the operation and earned notoriety in the local community after being tagged as the a fraud mafia leader in Palawan.
He was said to head a local syndicate providing illegally-obtained government-issued documents to undesirable aliens and trafficking victims.
During the operation, several Philippines-issued IDs were found and seized from the foreign nationals including their drivers’ licenses, postal IDs, and birth certificates.
“The arresting team of the operation have been working on the case for several months and have kept close coordination with intelligence forces and law enforcement agents to ensure the smooth arrest of the subjects,” said Manahan.
Tansingco, in commending the BI operatives, said that that the suspects are considered big fish, having illegally provided Philippine IDs to foreigners pretending to be Filipinos.
It can be recalled that on March, Representative Robert “Ace” Barbers made a statement over his concern on the growing number of arrests and interceptions of foreign nationals holding Philippine documents.
Last year, the BI reported at least 10 cases of arrested fake Filipinos presenting authentic, Philippine documents.
All four nabbed Chinese natiionals have been transferred to the BI’s facility in Bicutan, Taguig and now face charges for misrepresentation and undesirability in violation of the Philippine Immigration Act of 1940.
Tansingco renewed his call to local government units to report to the BI cases of foreign nationals conducting illegal activities in their areas, particularly those involved in identity fraud.
