Ombudsman asked to probe BI officials over $10-M alien ID scam

Ilocos Norte Rep. Imee Marcos asked Ombudsman Simeon Marcelo yesterday to investigate allegations that Bureau of Immigration (BI) officials are involved in an allegedly anomalous $10-million deal for the printing of renewable identification cards for foreigners in the country.

The opposition congresswoman cited in particular the questionable awarding of a contract to Datatrail Corp., which was tasked to undertake the Alien Certificate of Registration ID project.

"The Office of the Ombudsman should look into this, and I think Commissioner Alipio Fernandez has to explain why Datatrail was awarded the contract," she said. The firm’s officers remain anonymous until now, she added.

Marcos said what makes the contract more suspicious is that Datatrail is a "fledgling" company. "Some BI officials see the ACR-ID card as another money-making opportunity to legally extort from Chinese and Indian residents," she said.

Marcos said the BI is expected to rake in $10 million or about P5.6 billion from the implementation of the project alone.

"It only goes to show that the people in the bureau have other things in mind," she said.

Marcos said the project means more money, especially for BI officials, who will receive hefty commissions, since the previous ACR-ID cards only cost P1,050.

That amount has now ballooned to $50 or P2,759 every year, she added.

"The sad truth about it is that these cards have remained useless. It has become the most expensive card for $50. What’s depressing is that there are more that 200,000 aliens — most of whom are Chinese and Indians — who will be forced to cough up $50," Marcos said.

Records from the Foreign Chambers of the Philippines, the umbrella organization of the different chambers of commerce, show that between 300,000 to 400,000 foreigners are currently in the country. They include Americans, South Koreans, Japanese and Chinese.

During the time of former BI commissioner Andrea Domingo, the ACR-ID project was suspended "several times," but Fernandez resumed the computerization of the system under a build-operate-transfer agreement.

The computerization program involved the printing of IDs for at least 87,500 aliens in the country.