BI: Mining exec Joseph Sy still detained

MANILA, Philippines — Despite a Taguig court’s order to release Global Ferronickel Holdings Inc. (FNI) chairman Joseph Sy, he continues to be detained in the Bureau of Immigration (BI) facility in Bicutan, Taguig City.

BI spokesperson Dana Sandoval said they have not yet released Sy, tagged by the bureau as Chinese national Chen Zhong Zhen, because the BI intends to appeal the order of Taguig City Regional Trial Court Branch 271 Judge Paz Esperanza Cortes.

“The four-page Notice of Appeal has already been filed electronically, on the same day that we received (the Court order last Friday). We only sent the notice informing them of our intent to file an appeal,” said Sandoval.

The RTC then instructed the BI to directly file their appeal before the Court of Appeals, she added.

In a statement posted on Saturday night, the BI confirmed that it received at past 5 p.m. of Sept. 5 a copy of the order issued by Cortes ordering the BI to release Sy.

Cortes granted the petition for habeas corpus filed by Sy’s camp, saying the BI cannot initiate deportation proceedings against him.

The 60-year-old businessman has been in the BI’s custody since Aug. 21.

The FNI chief was accused of misrepresenting his Filipino citizenship after the BI found that fingerprints from his passport allegedly matched those of a Chinese national named Chen, who holds an Alien Certificate of Registration identity card.

In granting Sy’s habeas corpus petition, Cortes reportedly gave “superior weight” to the tycoon’s birth certificates and passports as proof of his Filipino citizenship.