A Mindanao lawmaker on Thursday sought to amend the antiquated Special Investor’s Resident Visa (SIRV) program, claiming it is now being used as a “ticket” by some foreign drug syndicates, money launderers, and other criminal elements to set up their base of operations in the Philippines.
Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, chair of the House Committee on Dangerous Drugs, said the country’s SIRV program implemented by the Board of Investments (BOI) is being taken advantage of by unscrupulous foreign individuals making the country a haven for their illegal activities.
The lawmaker said that pursuant to Book V of the Omnibus Investment Code (Executive Order 226, as amended), the SIRV program requires investors to remit at least $75,000 into the country and invest in viable economic activities.
He added the SIRV program is conveniently being used by many Chinese nationals now manning retail stores in Metro Manila and other parts of the country to sell smuggled cheap goods from China.
Based on latest reports, the SIRV program was also the “ticket” allegedly used by Bamban Mayor Alice Guo and her parents to enter the country in January 2003 when she was 13 years old.
According to BOI and Bureau of Immigration documents, the real name of Alice Guo was Guo Hua Ping and she was born on August 31, 1990. Her mother was identified as Lin Wenyi based on the SIRV application her family submitted to the BOI.
The Lower Chamber is currently investigating the influx of Chinese nationals working in illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) firms, involved in drugs smuggling, acquiring Filipino citizenship using spurious documents, money laundering, and perpetrating fraud, kidnap-for-ransom, and other criminal activities.