Four Chinese nationals believed involved in the illegal acquisition of government-issued identification cards and documents have been arrested in Palawan, the Bureau of Immigrations (BI) announced on Monday, April 1.
BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco identified those arrested as Lyu Zhiyang, Wang Tao, Li Xiaoming, and Guo Zhi Yang.
“These foreign nationals use Philippine documents to avoid inspection, buy property, or even interfere in politics,” said Tansingco.
“The arrest of Lyu and his gang will definitely hurt the operations of these entities, and hopefully put a stop to the proliferation of fraudulently-acquired documents,” he added.
The commissioner said the BI acted on calls made by Surigao del Norte 2nd District Rep. Robert Ace S. Barbers to capture those involved in providing foreigners with fraudulently acquired government-issued identification cards and documents.
The bureau said operatives of the BI’s Intelligence DIvision arrested the four Chinese nationals last March 19 in Barangay San Pedro in Puerto Princesa City in coordination with the Naval Forces West, National Intelligence Coordinating Agency 4B, and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
“The arresting team of the operation have been working on the case for several months and have kept close coordination with intelligence forces and law enforcement agents to ensure the smooth arrest of the subjects,” said BI Intelligence Division Chief Fortunato Manahan Jr.
During the operation, the bureau said “several Philippines-issued IDs were found and seized from the foreign nationals including their drivers’ licenses, postal IDs, and birth certificates.”
“Lyu, who bore the alias Ken Garcia Lee, was allegedly the mastermind of the operation and earned notoriety in the local community after being tagged as the fraud mafia leader in Palawan,” said the BI..
“He was said to head a local syndicate providing illegally-obtained government-issued documents to undesirable aliens and trafficking victims,” it added.
The bureau said all four Chinese are currently detained in the BI’s detention facility in Taguig City and are facing charges of misrepresentation and undesirability in violation of the Philippine Immigration Act of 1940.
The BI disclosed that last year there have been at least 10 foreigners got arrested for posing as Filipinos and presenting authentic Philippine documents.