As she welcomed the Department of Justice’s decision to stop the Bureau of Immigration from issuing work visas to foreign individuals who want to work in the Philippines, Senator Risa Hontiveros said the agency should do more to clean up its ranks.

“This is an important step to stop the malpractice in the agency,” Hontiveros said Wednesday.

She noted that the BI’s issuance of work visas to fake corporations, which has allowed entry to thousands of foreigners, is considered a “national security risk.”

“We do not know if there was a syndicate or criminals that have entered the country. We also have information that these work visas are what foreign nationals use to work for Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators,” she said.

Hontiveros said the matter would be tackled in the subsequent Senate investigation into alleged crimes linked to POGOs.

According to the DoJ, the BI had given out thousands of pre-arranged employment visas, called 9(g), to foreigners allegedly employed by fake local corporations.

The senator, who led a series of hearings on the corruption scandal in the BI, said, “It has been four years since the pastillas scam in the BI was exposed. Why does it seem like nothing has changed?”

“When would we see a better BI? How many Senate hearings do they need? It is disappointing that the agency is front and center of this issue once again.”

Tip of the iceberg

Meanwhile, BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco believes the 459 foreign nationals who were blacklisted in November for being petitioned by fake companies are just the tip of the iceberg.

Tansingco said he met with Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla last Monday to update him on the ongoing investigation.

“During our initial investigation, at least 40 travel agencies and liaison officers were suspected of being involved in the scheme, and we reported to the SoJ a total of 116 employers found to be fake,” he said.

Last year, BI reported to the DoJ that more than 400 foreigners were placed on a blacklist following an investigation by its verification and compliance division that found them to have listed fake companies in their 9(g) visa applications.

A 9(g) pre-arranged employment visa is required for foreign nationals to work in the Philippines.

“Last November, we recommended to the SoJ the cancellation of the visas of these aliens, as well as the issuance of show-cause orders against those involved in the applications,” Tansingco said. “We also recommended the issuance of show-cause orders against four BI lawyers and the abolition of the legal division’s visa task force.”

A fact-finding group, he added, was also formed to investigate the incident involving the four BI lawyers.

In December last year, the BI released an advisory suspending the acceptance of applications from companies with single proprietorships as the petitioners.

According to Tansingco, this resulted from his discussions with the SoJ, as the erring aliens mostly used sole proprietorships. He said they were keen on auditing visas issued within the last five years.

Tansingco said they are expecting more to be blacklisted once the investigation is concluded.

“Once we discovered the scheme, we immediately informed the DoJ, which approved our recommendations,” said Tansingco. “As such, we have reorganized the visa-issuance procedures, from top to bottom, including the procedures in accepting, reviewing, assessing, and up until the issuing of the visas. We anticipate that one thousand or more foreigners were petitioned by these fake companies.”

He added that he would not hesitate to suggest to the secretary that administrative disciplinary actions be taken against BI personnel if it turns out they were involved in the fraudulent scheme.

Under civil service rules, the secretary of Justice is the administrative disciplining authority for BI employees and personnel.

“Anti-corruption measures have always been on top of our priority list, following the many issues that the BI has faced in the past,” said Tansingco. “That is why we have this auditing. These audits and investigations result in the uncovering of schemes that could have otherwise grown and festered. We are thankful to the SoJ for his continuous support in our initiatives to cleanse our ranks.”