Remulla: Investigate visa issuance to fake firms

MANILA, Philippines — Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla has ordered an investigation into the Bureau of Immigration (BI)’s alleged issuance of 9G employment visas to over 500 fake corporations.

Remulla said authorities found that many of the corporations that were petitioning for 9G employment visas are “fake corporations or non-entities.”

“We’re talking about more than 500 corporations and thousands and thousands of visas issued with the petition of these corporations, which were presumed validated by the legal department and the visa-issuing authority of the BI,” he said in a press briefing yesterday.

Many of the visas issued, he said, were for the Philippine offshore gaming operator industry.

“It is an affront to our sovereignty that these people have been issuing all of these (visas) to them,” the DOJ chief said.

He said these firms were “probably in cahoots” with those involved in issuing the visas “because you are talking about due diligence as a matter of government policy in every transaction,” noting that the corporations were “accepted hook, line and sinker without any validation.”

In his meeting with BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco on Jan. 15, Remulla said he instructed the bureau to stop granting visas to sole proprietorships, and to issue 9G visas only to corporations that have the stamp of approval of the Securities and Exchange Commission.