BI probe exposes 459 foreigners in visa scam

FILE PHOTO: Bureau of Immigration (BI) logo and building facade. INQUIRER / ALEXIS CORPUZ

MANILA, Philippines — Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco said on Wednesday he would not hesitate to recommend to the Department of Justice (DOJ) that sanctions be meted out against any personnel found to be involved in the latest visa scam to be exposed at the bureau.

In a statement, Tansingco reported that 459 foreigners were recommended for blacklisting in November last year after an audit conducted by the Bureau of Immigration’s (BI) verification and compliance division showed that they had used fake Philippine companies in their applications for prearranged employment visas, also known as 9G visas.

“We also recommended the issuance of show cause orders against four BI lawyers and the abolition of the legal division’s visa task force,” he said.

Tansingco added that based on the BI’s initial investigation, they found 116 fake companies, which had applied for work visas. At least 40 travel agencies and liaison officers were also suspected of involvement in the scam as they helped process and submit 9G visa applications from the nonexistent firms. The 459 aliens, however, may just be the “tip of the iceberg” as there could be “a thousand or more” foreigners who were issued work visas using nonexistent local companies, he admitted.

“As such, we have reorganized the visa-issuance procedures; everything will change from top to bottom, including the procedures in accepting, reviewing, assessing, up until the issuing of the visas,” Tansingco said.

On Tuesday, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said he had ordered an investigation into the bureau’s issuance of visas to foreign nationals supposedly working for local companies that turned out to be fake.

According to Remulla, the visa applications of over 500 firms were approved by the BI’s legal department “hook, line and sinker” without verifying first whether they were registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III lauded Remulla for immediately ordering an investigation into the modus, which was similar to the multibillion-peso “pastillas” scam that fellow opposition Sen. Risa Hontiveros exposed in 2020.

Crackdown must go on

“The DOJ must continue its job in cracking down on this corrupt scheme because our society will be at risk with the entry of undesirable aliens,” Pimentel told reporters in a news briefing on Wednesday.

“This is dangerous because they went to the extent of [falsifying documents] just to be here. Something is happening. That’s why they want to be here. So my question is ‘why?’” he said.

Besides undermining national security, the entry of undocumented foreigners also puts additional strain on local enforcement agencies, the senator added.

Hontiveros, who chairs the Senate committee on women, children, family relations and gender equality, said she would conduct an inquiry into the issue, saying that she had also received information that the same scheme was used in securing work visas for foreigners working in Philippine offshore gaming operators or Pogos.

“I do welcome the [DOJ’s] directive that orders the BI to stop granting work visas requested by fake companies. This is an important step in stopping this shenanigan in the bureau,” she said.

Almost four years after bringing to light the “pastillas” scheme, she said it seemed the bureau has failed to institutionalize reforms to weed out corruption involving its personnel.

“How many Senate hearings do we have to conduct? It is disappointing that the agency is front and center of this issue once again,” Hontiveros lamented.

The pastillas scheme led to the dismissal of 45 immigration personnel in June 2022 after they were found to have accepted bribes from foreigners, mostly Chinese, who were given special treatment upon their arrival in the country.