Govt urged to act vs passport syndicate

SURIGAO del Norte 2nd District Rep. Robert Ace Barbers urged authorities to act against a scheme wherein Chinese nationals acquire legitimate Philippine passports through illegal means.

Barbers said that the illegal operation was discovered during the hearing of the House Committee on Public Order on the importation of 530 kilograms of methamphetamine, allegedly involving Willy Ong, a Chinese.

Ong, the authorities said, owns a legitimate but illegally acquired Philippine passport, a Unified Multi-Purpose Identity Card and a driver's license issued by the Land Transportation Office.

Barbers said that this became possible because Ong was able to secure a birth certificate indicating that he is a Filipino.

«Ong's cohorts or the Chinese mafia who worked for him presumably were able to secure a Filipino birth certificate via 'late registration' with certain LGUs. With his forged Filipino birth certificate, Ong was able to secure a Philippine passport and other government-issued IDs,» Barbers said.

Ong's real estate company, Empire 999, was duly registered at the Securities and Exchange Commission. It engaged in several huge land acquisitions in Mexico, Pampanga, where he and his Chinese partners managed to build a gas station and four warehouses.

Ong was implicated in the importation of illegal drugs after the National Bureau of Investigation conducted an entrapment operation in one of his warehouses in San Jose Malino, Mexico, Pampanga.

Barbers said Ong made a mockery of the Philippine legal system.

He added that he received reports that other Chinese were involved in the same illegal operations.

«Aside from perpetually bullying us on the issue of West Philippine Sea, the continuous dumping of counterfeit drugs and other products in the Philippines, these unscrupulous Chinese nationals are now faking documents to acquire legit government-issued documents. These Chinese nationals are doing so many fraudulent activities here in the country,» Barbers said.