Immigration orders Lim deported

The Bureau of Immigration yesterday ordered the deportation of Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP) Secretary-General Graham Lim for misrepresenting himself as a Filipino citizen.

Immigration Commissioner Alipio Fernandez said that the bureau’s five-man board of commissioners issued last April 7 the summary deportation order against Lim who was also blacklisted and banned from re-entering the Philippines.

Fernandez, who chairs the board of commissioners, said Lim, who is a Taiwanese national, violated Philippine immigration laws for misrepresenting himself as a Filipino.

In its six-page judgment, the immigration board ruled that Lim, who was born in Manila on Feb. 7, 1957 to Chinese parents, is not a Filipino citizen as records attest that he is a Taiwanese.

He was born in the Philippines but he is not a citizen of the Philippines, said Fernandez.

Fernandez said Lim also virtually admitted that he is not a citizen of the Philippines when he consciously, willfully and voluntarily filed separate petitions for naturalization as a Philippine citizen with the Manila Regional Trial Court and with the Office of the Solicitor General.

In addition, Fernandez also said Lim acquired a Taiwanese passport from the Taipei Economic Cultural Office in Manila on March 21, 1986 and that his parents are registered as foreigners with the Bureau of Immigration.

Fernandez said Lim’s petition for naturalization before the Manila Regional Trial Court was dismissed on Feb. 5, 1995.

While he purports himself to be a citizen of the Philippines, documents on record clearly shows his Taiwanese citizenship. He cannot even explain his possesion of a Republic of China passport and his registration as an alien in this bureau, said Fernandez.

According to the Bureau of Immigration, Lim was issued a Philippine passport by the Department of Foreign Affairs on June 22, 2000. The passport was however, cancelled by the DFA on Oct. 9, 2003 after investigation showed that the document was obtained through fraud and misrepresentation.

Fernandez said the BI was informed by DFA Assistant Secretary Teresita Barsana, of the DFAs Office of Consular Affairs, that Lims passport was cancelled, the holder being a Chinese citizen.

As far as the BI is concerned, Lim should be deported for misrepresenting himself as a Filipino citizen, said Fernandez.

The Bureau of Immigration also said that Lim cannot qualify for Filipino citizenship under the Treaty of Paris as he failed to show concrete proof that his ancestors have been living in the Philippines before 1899.

Lim failed to present concrete proof that his parents were actual subjects of Spain to qualify for citizenship under the Treaty of Spain, said Fernandez.

The BAP is the sports organization tasked with selecting the members of the Philippine national basketball team and training them for amateur

competitions such as the Olympic games. The BAP is also tasked to maintain an amateur basketball program in the country.