By Junex Doronio
MANILA — With the recent arrest in Palawan of four Chinese nationals who were allegedly behind fraudulently acquired government identification cards (IDs), authorities are now eyeing a possible “silent Chinese invasion” in the Philippines.
The Bureau of Immigration (BI) said that last year, there were at least 10 incidents of arrests involving foreigners who presented authentic Philippine IDs.
“These foreign nationals use Philippine documents to avoid inspection, buy property, or even interfere in politics,” BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco revealed.
In a statement, BI intelligence division chief Fortunato Manahan Jr. identified the four suspects as Wang Tao, Li Xiaoming, Guo Zhi Yang and Lyu Zhiyang, who were arrested in Brgy. San Pedro, Puerto Princess City, Palawan.
Manahan Jr. said Lyu, also known as Ken Garcia Lee, was allegedly the operation’s mastermind and earned notoriety in the local community after being tagged as the group’s leader in Palawan.
Lyu allegedly heads the local syndicate providing illegally obtained government-issued documents to undesirable aliens and trafficking victims.
It was gathered that several identification cards issued by the Philippine government such as drivers’ licenses, postal IDs, and birth certificates were found and seized from the suspects.
The successful apprehension of the suspects was coordinated with the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the BI bared.
“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,” Manahan Jr. further said.
Tansingco also reiterated his call to local government units (LGUs) to report to the BI cases of foreign nationals conducting illegal activities in their areas such as identity fraud.
(el Amigo/MNM)
