Arrested businessman Joseph Sy, chairman of the Global Ferronickel Holdings, Inc. (FNI), may face criminal charges for “having faked his Filipino identity,” the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said on Wednesday, Aug. 27.

BI Spokesperson Dana Sandoval said during an interview on DZBB that “‘pag may citizenship issue na ‘yan meron na ‘yan na mga kakambal na other cases tungkol sa mga documents n’ya or the Philippine Passport Act na (when there is a citizenship issue, there will be twin cases concerning his documents or violation of the Philippine Passport Act).”

Thus, Sandoval said that several cases may be filed against Sy.

She also said that the BI is still in the initial stages of Sy’s deportation proceedings.

At the same time, Sandoval said the BI is also checking the immigration status of Sy’s family.

“‘Yan po ang tinitingnan natin ‘yung mga family members kasi doon po sa kanyang records meron pong spouse na binabanggit here (We are looking into that because his records show that he has a spouse),” she also said.

Joseph Sy, 60, was arrested by the BI upon his arrival at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 from Hong Kong last Aug. 21. The BI found that Sy is a Chinese national Chen Zhong Zhen.

During his arrest, he was found in possession of a Philippine passport that was issued in 2021 and several Philippine identity cards that showed he is a Filipino.

Sandoval said the BI started looking into the identity of Joseph Sy after having received intelligence information about his Chinese citizenship.

“Tiningnan po doon sa records natin sa Immigration at magkatugma ‘yung kanyang photos, pati ‘yung biometric information at parehas po ang biometric information na nakita, confirming na one and the same ‘yung Chinese national na ‘yun at ‘yung Filipino po na nagpepresenta (We looked at our records at the BI and compared his photos and biometric information and we found that it matches the information on the Chinese national and the person claiming to be a Filipino),” she recounted.

Based on the BI’s records on Chen Zhong Zhen, Sandoval said “he has been here for decades already and before 1992 kaya nakakuha po s’ya ng long-term visa dito (that’s why he was able to secure a long-term visa).”

She explained that Sy was able to get a long-term visa through Republic Act (RA) No. 7919, the Alien Social Integration Act of 1995.

“Kung ang isang foreign national po gusto maging Filipino, kailangan maging naturalized kasi ang case po na ito ang sinasabi n’ya natural born Filipino po ako, not even saying naturalized (If a foreigner wants to be a Filipino, that person should be naturalized but, in this case, he claims to be a natural born Filipino, not even saying naturalized),” Sandoval pointed out.

“Sa naturalization, it’s not with BI po, it’s under SolGen and act of Congress pero meron ‘yan kinakailangan na matagal na nandito, kailangan isa kang helpful member of society (Naturalization is not done by the BI but by the Office of the Solicitor General and an act of Congress but the foreigner should also show that he or she has been staying in the Philippines for a long time and has been a helpful member of society),” she explained.

Because of his Chinese citizenship, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) has removed Joseph Sy as a member of the PCG Auxiliary (PCGA).

The mining executive became part of the PCGA Executive Squadron in 2018 and held the rank of Auxiliary Rear Admiral.