36 YEARS UNDER THE RADAR? Hontiveros grills BI over delays in detecting Joseph Sy's 'identity fraud'

Senator Risa Hontiveros admonished the Bureau of Immigration on Thursday for failing to swiftly flag Philippine-based Chinese businessman Joseph Sy for identity fraud, citing a 36-year delay from 1989 to 2025, when the bureau found his fingerprints matched those of Chen Zhong Zhen.

BI Deputy Commissioner Atty. Joel Alejandro told the Senate justice and human rights committee, headed by Hontiveros, that Sy and Chen are the same person, based on the bureau’s biometric records and cross-checking with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

Sy was the former chairperson of Global Ferronickel Holdings Incorporated and resigned in December last year amid reports that he falsified his Filipino citizenship.

He was intercepted at Ninoy Aquino International Airport from Hong Kong in August last year after the BI found that his biometric records matched Chen's. However, the Supreme Court recently granted his writ of preliminary mandatory injunction and ordered his release after posting a P900,000 cash bond.

Alejandro said Chen’s records were already in the BI’s database as early as 1989, after he applied for a 13E visa (returning resident visa) in 1989, which was approved in February of the same year.

“And later on, he also applied under RA 7919, the Alien Social Integration Program, which appears to be on record, in March of 1996. So with this, his biometric records were found and captured by the bureau,” he said.

Hontiveros expressed frustration over the BI’s lack of proactive monitoring, arguing that the bureau still failed to root out the scheme despite the 2024 controversy involving detained Bamban mayor Alice Guo, also known as Guo Hua Ping.

“It was only in 2025 that the conflict was detected. That's a 36-year gap. Not a single short circuit anywhere in the government system, whether in one agency or across agencies, asking why this person has two sets of identities? What accounts for the 36-year lag?” she pressed the BI official.

According to Alejandro, the BI only learned of the fraudulent identity after counterpart intelligence agencies notified it and requested Sy’s fingerprint verification.

Only then did the BI search Sy’s records and find that his fingerprints matched Chen.

“Those were compared to his records when he applied for the Alien Social Integration Program under RA 7919. Aside from that, Madam Chair, the ACR card, the Alien Card, Certificate of Registration, 10-fingerprint chart, was also compared to the NBI records and matched,” he said.

BI not equipped

Alejandro admitted that the BI still has no automatic cross-checking system to detect fraudulent applications or identification by foreign nationals early.

“Unless there are reports [or] requests coming from other government agencies for us to cross-reference, then that's the only time we will be able to determine whether this individual is the same as the one in our records,” he told the panel.

The Office of the Solicitor General told the committee that it had already canceled Sy’s birth certificate.

Hontiveros lamented that the alarming institutional gap and lack of automated interoperability between concerned agencies have allowed foreign nationals like Sy to hold and join sensitive government positions and groups, posing a threat to national security, especially since the Philippines and China have been at loggerheads in the West Philippine Sea.

Hontiveros underscored that Sy was part of the Philippine Coast Guard Auxiliary, a volunteer reserve unit of the PCG. He was delisted and disenrolled in August last year.

“Foreigners are entering our country and posing as Filipinos to exploit, scam, rob, and plunder our natural resources, and subject Filipinos to fake news and troll farms,” Hontiveros asserted.

In a House probe in August 2024, it was uncovered that 36 Chinese nationals were recruited to PCGA, with some serving three to five years. They were also eventually delisted.

Lawmakers have expressed alarm over reports that Chinese nationals are infiltrating the PCGA, raising counterspying concerns and citing numerous incidents in which the Chinese Coast Guard has subjected Philippine vessels to dangerous maneuvers during resupply missions to the BRP Sierra Madre at Ayungin Shoal in the WPS.

Thursday’s hearing was called to resume the investigation into how late birth registrations are being exploited by foreign nationals to unlawfully acquire Filipino citizenship.

Sy was a no-show during the probe. His lawyer, Alma Mallonga, told Hontiveros that Sy informed her he was admitted to the emergency room of Makati Medical Center hours before the hearing.

Hontiveros had already planned to conclude the hearing but emphasized that Sy must first respond to the allegations at the next probe.

The Philippine Statistics Authority has identified over 50,000 potentially fraudulent late birth registrations and has already endorsed 1,484 to the OSG for cancellation.