TRANSCRIPT: Opening statement of Sen. Pia Cayetano, Chairperson Blue Ribbon Committee
Probe on Unauthorized Proliferation and Use of Government Documents by Foreign Nationals [e.g. Certificates of Live Births (COLB), Passports and Tax Identification Number (TIN)]

This public hearing of the Committee on Accountability of Public Officers and Investigations (Blue Ribbon) is called to order.

This is pursuant to the Blue Ribbon Committee's power to conduct hearings motu proprio based on Rule X, Sec. 13(2) of the Senate Rules that provides that the Blue Ribbon has the power to conduct an investigation of any matter of public interest on its own initiative or brought to its attention by any member of the Senate.

For the record, this has been taken up by members of the Senate in the plenary on the budget deliberations. This Committee will tackle the issues today surrounding the Unauthorized Proliferation and Use of Government Documents by Foreign Nationals, such as the Certificate of Live Births, Passports, and Tax Identification Numbers.

So let's now take the oath of the resource persons. May I call on the Director-General, Director-General Rudy Quimbo, to administer the oath?

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Thank you. Just a few administrative matters. We'll conduct this hearing based on the flow that the Chair deems necessary. So there will not be any reading of statements unless you are asked. Because we already have, in a way, had initial, almost like initial hearings on this, because as I said, these matters were brought up during the budget. So in the interest of time, the records of the budget hearing form part of the records here so we don't have to repeat everything.

And then in all the hearings that this representation conducts, I am very liberal about mobility breaks because I feel it is an integral part of your health, in the same way na we will serve lunch if it's lunch break. I also require that you take care of your own health, you drink water, and if you drink water, you will have to go to the bathroom. So feel free to excuse yourselves. You don't even have to ask my permission. Just kindly mention to the Secretary that you are stepping out. If you also want to stand up, stretch your legs, because these hearings can go on for hours, you are welcome to do so. You don't have to ask for my permission. But that's me. I don't suggest you do it with other chairs unless they say that you can do it because I want you to have healthy bodies so that your mind can also respond in a healthy way.

What else? I think that's it. If you do have a statement read, you can ask me but be prepared that I probably will say no need. And I'll ask you to just read that part that is relevant to what I need to hear. Because as I said, I just want to keep this simple and as brief as possible. Because everyone sitting here is a government official so I thank you for your time. I thank your principals for the time they have given us to allow us to conduct this hearing. I'd like to acknowledge the presence of Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian. Good morning.

So, I normally give our colleagues the opportunity to make an opportunity to make a statement before me, but since he literally just sat down, I will give him 5 seconds to open his notebook and to look at his notes and decide. Or I'll go ahead, I'll go ahead because the nature of my opening statement will directly go into the questions. And may I ask the Secretariat and my team to remind me, as new senators come in, I will just remind them of the flow of this particular hearing. Senator Sherwin, I was just saying for this particular hearing, because the issues were already raised during the budget deliberations on the floor. I will not start with position papers and statements. And by the way, some of you have submitted, and you are welcome to submit any document you want to the Committee.

So I will just go straight to my question. And when I have one other senator with me, it's free flowing. Pero kapag more than one na, hindi na free flowing dahil gumugulo na yun. And then, I will ask that the key resource persons speak first before other senators ask questions. But the first one here gets to ask questions along with me because dalawa lang kami. And it can still be well moderated.

Alright, we'll start. So, there have been quite a few reports of some unscrupulous foreign nationals posing as Filipinos by using legitimate, supposedly, legitimate government-issued documents - I say legitimate because in previous hearings, they have been confirmed by various officials that they are legitimate, so that is why I use the term legitimate. But we will establish that again today - such as Philippine passports, which they fraudulently obtained using spurious documents and through other illegal means.

So during the plenary budget deliberations on November 9, 2023, just a few months ago, Senator Dela Rosa made an interpellation, raising the interception by the Bureau of Immigration (BI) and NBI of foreign nationals with Philippine passports. He stated that "more than a dozen Filipino passport holders [were] obviously not Filipinos." So hindi sila Pilipino and yet, they carry Filipino passports. He raised the alarm as it "involves national security." It does involve national security because that means foreigners can come in and out of our country as if they were Filipinos. They could be a threat to our safety, they could be citizens of countries that in one way or another are not friendly to us. So it is definitely a national security issue.

Our Senate President, Miguel Zubiri, also manifested in the deliberations that he received reports that the NBI had an ongoing investigation on the activities of a Local Civil Registrar (LCR) in a town in CARAGA, Mindanao. The LCR was allegedly "giving out birth certificates" and the NBI "caught several Chinese nationals who do not even speak English, Tagalog, or Bisaya." So the Senate President referred the matter to the Blue Ribbon Committee.

I'd like to give an example of a foreigner using a duly issued Philippine passport. I rarely give a long opening statement but I need to set the tone of this hearing so that the public can also understand. Because we have millions of Filipinos who are OFWs and as I will present, even their own safety and their own homes, their ability to be secure in their person, na hindi sila kapkapan, na hindi sila ma-detain, in our own country, and worse, in other countries, is jeopardized by these cases.

So let me give you now the example. This foreigner is using a duly issued Philippine passport. A Vietnamese national who for the purposes of this hearing and pursuant to the Data Privacy Act, the photo has been somewhat blurred, blurred na ba yan sa lagay na yan? And will also be called by the name of "NGUYEN". So this Vietnamese national was recently deported by the Bureau of Immigration after being discovered in possession of a fraudulently obtained Philippine passport. The Philippine passport bore a name alongside her photo, which was different when compared to her Vietnamese Passport. The questioned document, however, was found to be genuine and duly issued by the DFA.

May I just know quickly from both the Bureau of Immigration representative and DFA if you are both familiar with this case? Yes? Well, it's the Philippine Statistics Authority representative who nodded. DFA and Immigration, are you familiar with this case? Yes? I'll call on you later. DFA said yes. How about Immigration? Excuse me, who's here? Kayo po? Mr. Supan are you familiar? Sorry, can you turn on your mic? Not ba? Kasi kayo humuli. So I'll just ask my staff to approach you, baka naman familiar kayo kaya lang nga tinago sa ibang pangalan. So I'll ask our Secretary to approach you? Okay? Just pull him aside so that we can discuss this. Reminder lang na we are not using the person's real name.

So this example is just the tip of the iceberg. The Blue Ribbon Committee conducted its own investigation, the Secretariat, and came across the case of an OFW, this is another case, for the purposes of this hearing and again pursuant to the Data Privacy Act, will be referred to as "JANE"

This is a case naman of identity theft. In this case naman, si Jane, again, the Bureau of Immigration intercepted Ms. Jane, a said person who was a passenger departing at NAIA bound for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia via PAL due to "INCONSISTENT STATEMENTS". This person, si Jane, sabi niya, she is traveling for the first time, but the records of our Bureau of Immigration revealed that she had already had previous travels. So may inconsistency kaagad na nakita. In fact lumabas na that person had already departed twice as a land-based OFW in 2015 and 2019, and had not returned to the Philippines since then. But here was this person in front of the officer, and yet twice na siya daw nakaalis at hindi pa nakabalik. So tatlo na ang identity niya.

According to Ms Jane, yun nga, it was her first time to depart the country as an OFW. She was not aware at all that there is another person allegedly using her identity and based on her birth certificate, she has a particular birthdate, I won't reveal it na lang for her identity, born in 1993, but she alleged that it was changed to 1990 by her recruiter in Maguindanao. So doon pa lang, kahit yung totoo niya na siya na yung totoong tao, na-change pa to make it appear daw that she was compliant with employment age requirements. So pinatanda siya. And then she claims to have paid one thousand five hundred Philippine pesos (PHP 1,500.00) for a new birth certificate. The recruiter was said to have taken possession of her passport and other documents, and blocked her off since then. The 2014 recruiter.

So anyway, can I now ask BI, are you familiar with this case? So this one you have personal knowledge of talaga. Alright. And is DFA familiar with this case? Okay. so sinabi ko na ah, pangalanan siya na Jane.

Anyway, what happened here was so it's you, do you have a title? Immigration Officer? So Immigration Officer Supan was the one who interviewed her and the outcome was, her departure was deferred and the person was endorsed to the BI-Border Control and Intelligence Unit. So you turned over this person. So basically, hindi na siya nakaalis. When was this again? When did this happen? Just this year, okay.

Anyway, I am establishing that as examples of issues that we are going to tackle. So yung isa is Pilipino naman talaga pero may gumamit ng identity niya, si identity theft. And then in the first case that I mentioned, it appears to be a foreigner who now has found a way to obtain a Filipino passport. So those are two separate cases but clearly involving these people having documents, or in the case of the second person, somebody else obtaining documents that are supposed to be genuine and reflective of one person only, and it's now already in the hands of two other people. And in the other case, hindi nga Pilipino.

So those are our very troublesome issues. And later on, the questions we will ask is, from the officers here from the provincial statistical offices... paano nangyari ito, and we also have reports na binebenta yun. So ang napakasakit is the question I am about to raise: nabebenta na ba ang Philippine citizenship, at magkano para maging Filipino citizen? It's sad that I have to ask that question but that is the effect of what we are seeing, nabebenta ang Philippine citizenship.

So, just to state for the record, it is the State's duty to protect and maintain the integrity and credibility of passports and travel documents. Grabe yung effect nito sa kahit sinong ordinary Philippine citizen pero medyo mabigat ang loob ko especially for our OFWs. Kahit sino namang maharang, ma-delay sa atin pa lang sa immigration, syempre hassle yun, hassle. Pero for an OFW who has spent all their savings, umutang na sa lahat ng kapitbahay, nagbayad sa recruiter para malaman na number one, hindi siya makaalis. Number two, may iba na palang inako yung pagkatao niya, and then yung buong future niya is at jeopardy. Kaya tinanong ko nga ano na nangyari doon sa taong yun, so hindi pa nakaalis. So that's one of our major concerns because these Filipinos, our OFWs, are really relying on the sanctity and integrity of our public documents. So I hope we can shed light on this and find solutions.

I am ready to start asking questions, as I said, but I'd like to ask Sen. Gatchalian, if you would like to make a few statements and then I will proceed with the questions. Go ahead.