MANILA – Justice Secretary Jesus Remulla on Tuesday said his office will look into the accountability of past and present officials in the Bureau of Immigration (BI) who approved "thousands" of migrant workers visas from fly-by-night local businesses.
Remulla, in a press briefing said the visas were issued to applicants from fake corporations and sole proprietorships. Information about the anomalies were brought to the DOJ's attention this January.
"As a matter of policy, I’m asking the BI not to grant anymore visas to sole proprietorships but only to corporations that have the stamp of approval of the SEC (Securities and Exchanges Commission)," he said.
Remulla said initial findings showed that a number of corporations that were petitioning for 9G visas are fake corporations or non-entities.
"Kaya ‘yan ang pinapaimbestigahan ko five years back para matigil na itong kalokohan na to (I have ordered an investigation to as far back as five years ago). It is an affront to our sovereignty that these people have been issuing all of these [visas] to them. Many of them are used for POGO [Philippine offshore gaming operator])," he added.
"We’re talking about more than 500 corporations and thousands and thousands of visas issued with the petition of these corporations, which has been presumed validated by the legal department and the visa issuing authority of the Bureau of Immigration. It’s just the tip of the iceberg. I would be asking for a fuller investigation and that’s what we discussed yesterday," the DOJ chief said.
Remulla noted that the applications from the corporations did not undergo further scrutiny by the concerned officials. "The corporations were accepted hook, line and sinker without any validation. Meaning to say probably (they are ) in cahoots because you are talking about due diligence as a matter of government policy in every transaction."
Remulla, meanwhile, reiterated his position to allow a private third party entity to take over the issuance of visas in the Philippines, similar to the practice in other countries.
Visa audits
The Bureau of Immigration (BI), meanwhile, said it is looking to conduct an audit of visas issued within the last five years to unmask more foreigners who have been petitioned by fake companies.
In a statement Wednesday, Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco said the over 400 foreigners who have been blacklisted by the agency in November last year for being petitioned by fake companies is just “the tip of the iceberg”.
“Once we discovered the scheme, we immediately informed the Department of Justice (DOJ) who approved our recommendations. As such, we have reorganized the visa-issuance procedures, palit lahat top to bottom (there is a massive replacement from top to bottom), including the procedures in accepting, reviewing, assessing, up until the issuing of the visas,” the BI chief said, adding that the number of foreigners involved may even reach 1,000.
Last year, the BI reported to the DOJ the blacklisting of 459 aliens after the audit of its verification and compliance division (VCD) revealed that said foreign nationals have been using fake companies in their 9(g) visa application.
A 9(g) pre-arranged employment visa is a requisite for foreign nationals working in the Philippines.
Tansingco said they expect to blacklist more foreigners once the probe has been completed.
“During our initial investigation, at least 40 travel agencies and liaison officers are suspected of being involved in the scheme, and we reported to the SOJ (Secretary of Justice) a total of 116 employers found to be fake,” he added.
Tansingco said they have also recommended the issuance of show cause orders against four BI lawyers allegedly involved in the scheme and the abolition of the visa task force of the agency’s Legal Division.
A factfinding group has also been established to dig deeper into the incident, he added. (with report from Ferdinand Patinio/PNA)
