LAST month, another Chinese national who was able to set up businesses by posing as a Filipino was arrested at Ninoy Aquino International Airport by the National Bureau of Investigation.
According to the NBI, the woman identified as Wang Xiujun was placed under arrest upon her arrival at NAIA from Guangdong, China.
The operation against her was based on an intelligence report that she had been posing as a Filipino named Cassi Palma Poliquit in some of her business transactions.
The NBI said Wang was able to secure a Philippine passport under the made-up Filipino name, as confirmed by the Office of Consular Affairs of the Department of Foreign Affairs, and a birth certificate via the late registration process.
Documents obtained by the NBI from the Securities and Exchange Commission showed she was able to establish several companies where she represented herself as a Filipino.
This despite the fact that she is a Chinese national with a Special Investor’s Resident Visa based on verification with the Bureau of Investment.
Analysis also showed that the fingerprints of both Wang and Poliquit were identical.
Following her arrest, the NBI charged Wang with violating the immigration law, specifically misrepresentation as a Filipino, violating the limitations and conditions of stay, and undesirability.
The NBI also charged her for violation of Republic Act 8239, or the “Philippine Passport Act of 1996” before the Prosecutor’s Office of Taguig City.
NBI Director Jaime Santiago pointed out that his agency is committed to digging deeper into similar cases.
The case of Wang Xiujun aka Cassi Palama Poliquit closely resembles that of dismissed Tarlac, Bamban Mayor Alice Guo, who was revealed to be a Chinese national named Guo Hua Ping, based on a fingerprint analysis conducted by the NBI.
The former mayor is currently in jail for several charges, including money laundering, qualified trafficking, graft, and falsification of public documents
In June, the Bureau of Immigration had expressed concern over the continued proliferation of foreigners fraudulently acquiring Philippine identities after it arrested three suspected “fake” Filipinos in Zamboanga del Sur.
Immigration Commissioner Joel Anthony Viado said the illegal practice remains prevalent, with foreign nationals still managing to get official documents identifying them as Filipinos despite being ineligible for Philippine citizenship.
He warned these foreign nationals could be embedding themselves in the country to conduct espionage activities or crimes.
How many more Chinese nationals posing as Filipinos are out there?
We really don’t know.
But with more Chinese nationals being able to pass themselves off as Filipinos — in all possibility in collusion with corrupt government officials and employees — should be ample cause of concern for our law enforcement, immigration and national security agencies as these are taking place amid tense relations with China in the West Philippine Sea.
