EDITORIAL - Faking citizenship

Miners’ groups are closing ranks behind one of their own, but the Bureau of Immigration is standing firm on the arrest and detention of businessman Joseph Sy on charges of using fraudulent Filipino citizenship records.

Sy, chairman of Global Ferronickel Holdings Inc., was arrested on Aug. 21 at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. The BI said he was using a fake Philippine passport and identification cards. Sy’s fingerprints, the BI said, matched those of a Chinese citizen who previously held a long-term Philippine visa.

FNI has denied the charges against Sy, and two mining organizations have condemned the arrest. The BI, however, continues to hold on to Sy, whose case has been likened to that of dismissed mayor Alice Guo of Bamban, Tarlac.

Yesterday, the Securities and Exchange Commission said it was “closely monitoring” the case and pondering possible action after FNI publicly released a statement on Sy’s arrest only on Tuesday, five days after it happened, in possible violation of disclosure rules governing publicly listed companies.

The case reminds the public about the systemic weaknesses that allowed Guo and her supposed siblings to obtain Philippine citizenship through late registration, allowing her to run for mayor and win. Suspected to be a Chinese spy, Guo accumulated wealth and land where a major Philippine offshore gaming operation hub was set up.

Sy joined the Philippine Coast Guard Auxiliary in 2018, according to Sen. Risa Hontiveros. She said FNI

entered into a joint venture with Chinese state-owned Baiyin Nonferrous Group Co. Ltd. in 2016 during then president Rodrigo Duterte’s state visit to China.

The joint venture involved mining operations in Palawan, said Hontiveros, who is eyeing the revival of a probe on how fraudulent Philippine citizenship is acquired.

Following the scandal over Guo, the National Bureau of Investigation had tagged the civil registrar’s office in Sta. Cruz town, Davao del Sur as one of the major sources of fake birth certificates. The NBI filed 66 counts of graft, falsification of public documents, perjury and violations of civil registry laws against Sta. Cruz civil registrar Mario Tizon and three other employees in the office.

Between 2016 and 2023, at least 1,576 fake birth certificates were issued by the office through late registration, according to the NBI.

Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian had said that for a fee of P300,000, foreigners mostly Chinese could obtain a Philippine birth certificate, and subsequently a passport and driver’s license.

Tizon, who had been the Sta. Cruz civil registrar since December 1994, was suspended. Have the loopholes that allowed the fraudulent operations been plugged? Whether or not the accusations against Sy are true, those weaknesses in the civil registration process must be addressed.