Surigao del Norte 2nd district Rep. Robert Ace Barbers (Facebook) 

Surigao del Norte 2nd district Rep. Robert Ace Barbers has warned different government agencies about the operations of an alleged Chinese mafia in the Philippines. 

Barbers, chairman of the House Committee on Dangerous Drugs, said in a statement Wednesday, March 6, that the group's modus operandi includes acquiring legit Philippine passports for Chinese nationals who end up posing as legitimate Filipino traders using spurious documents. 

House members deduced the Chinese mafia’s illegal scheme in the ongoing House Committee on Public Order investigations on the importation of some 530 kilos of "shabu" allegedly involving a Chinese national named Willy Ong. 

Apparently, this Willy Ong possesses a legitimate but illegally-acquired Philippine passport, a UMID ID card and an LTO (Land Transportation Office)-issued driver’s license.
 
“We have it on record during our investigations on the 530-kilo shabu haul in Mexico, Pampanga that Willy Ong managed to secure a birth certificate indicating that he is a Filipino," Barbers said. 

"Ong’s cohorts or the Chinese mafia who works for him presumably was able to secure a Filipino birth certificate via ‘late registration’ with certain LGUs (local government units). With his forged Filipino birth certificate, Ong was able to secure a Philippine passport and other government-issued IDs,” he said.  
 
Ong, based on House records, also managed to register his firm, Empire 999, a real estate company, with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This reportedly allowed him to engage in several huge lands acquisition in Mexico, Pampanga where he and his Chinese partners built a gasoline station and four large warehouses, among others, in the province.
 
It was in one of four of Ong’s warehouses in Purok 5, San Jose Malino, Mexico town where the 530 kilos of shabu worth P3.6 billion, shipped through Subic Port, were delivered on Sept. 28, 2024 via “controlled delivery” with National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agents. 

NBI, BI and the Philippine National Police (PNP) operatives have since conducted a nationwide manhunt against Ong and his registered business partners at all their known addresses. They could not be located. 

Ong is reportedly using his Filipino passport and other IDs in transacting business in the Philippines while using his Chinese passport when travelling outside of the country--a la “dual Filipino-Chinese citizen".
 
“Ong, including his other Chinese business cohorts have made a huge mockery of the country’s Immigration, business and other laws by acquiring government-issued documents, illegally establishing local businesses by posing as Filipinos,” Barbers said.
 
The veteran solon said he has also received reports that Chinese nationals with forged Filipino identification cards were engaged in huge land acquisition sprees in Bulacan, Palawan, Zambales, Isabela and other parts of the country, while they established warehouses and other “business fronts".
 
“Aside from perpetually bullying us on the issue of West Philippine Sea (WPS), 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. 

"Kung ano-ano nang klaseng panloloko ang ginagawa ng mga Chinese nationals na ito sa ating bansa,” he added.  
 
(These Chinese national are doing different kinds of shenanigans here in our country.)