Immigration: Foreigners in Mindanao use fake Filipino identities for businesses

MANILA, Philippines — Some foreign nationals in Mindanao have been using false Filipino identities to establish businesses that employ illegal foreign workers, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said.

According to the bureau, intelligence officers arrested Bangdie Pan, also known as Ditdit, a 50-year-old Chinese national, in Digos City, Davao del Sur, on March 20.

Pan was found actively managing a hardware store registered under the name of a supposed Filipino citizen, whose identity is now under investigation.

Melody Gonzales, BI’s intelligence division deputy chief for Administration & Operations in Mindanao, said the operation was carried out with support from various law enforcement and military units, including the Philippine Army’s 39th Infantry Battalion, 1002nd Brigade, 10th Infantry Division, Philippine National Police, and government intelligence operatives in Region 11.

Pan was arrested for violating Philippine immigration laws. Authorities also discovered that Pan held a work visa issued under a company in Pasig City but was working in an unauthorized capacity in Davao del Sur.

Filipino employees at the hardware store admitted that the supposed Filipino owner did not exist and that the business documents were forged.

In a separate operation on March 24, BI operatives arrested four more Chinese nationals in M'lang, North Cotabato, for illegally working at a chemical manufacturing plant.

The arrested individuals were identified as:

• Zhongyi Tang, 62
• Tianpei Wu, 51
• Dezhen Liu, 62
• Wang Lianxu, 53

Investigations revealed that Dezhen Liu had misrepresented himself as a Filipino citizen, using a fraudulent Philippine birth certificate and other forged documents.

Employees at the chemical plant disclosed that the company was registered under a Filipina whom they had never seen since the business opened. They admitted that the true owner was a Chinese man based in Manila.

“These documents and new identities may be used by foreigners with mal-intent, and could be exploited by possible spies embedding themselves in society by pretending to be Filipinos,” Immigration Commissioner Joel Viado said. 

All five Chinese nationals now face deportation charges filed by the BI.