Systemic flaws in civil registration and judicial oversight are facing intensified legislative review as foreign nationals exploiting identity fraud gain operational control over vital national assets and leverage state institutions.
Bureau of Immigration deputy commissioner Joel Alejandro Nacnac on Thursday said the fake Philippine citizenship of businessman Joseph Sy, former Global Ferronickel Holdings Inc chairman, has uncovered a number of “serious issues” that pose national security threat.
“I can see some issues, like we have identified and discovered identity fraud. It po ay pagnanakaw ng pagkatao…nagkuwaring Pilipino…We can see that there is a big business being handled by Mr. Sy. He controls a critical national asset which can affect our economy,” Nacnac said during the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights hearing on the case of Sy.
Nacnac said Sy’s case also involved national security threat as he was able to enlist as a Philippine Coast Guard Auxiliary in 2018, and “there is foreign political alignment” because Sy represented the country in the Philippine Silk Road Chamber of International Commerce an attended the Communist Party of China and World Political Summit in 2021.
“And last, Madam Chair, I would say that there is judicial vulnerability on the part of our judicial system because of the cases of habeas corpus filed before several courts and it even went through the Supreme Court,” Nacnac added.
NBI Director Melvin Matibag said the Chinese community has issued a “warning” to Chinese in the Philippines on the dark web that “the NBI has ordered a nationwide investigation into fake birth certificates and citizens documents.”
“It looks like they’re aware. So, parang may warning na doon sa mmga nakapag-avail dito,” Matibag also said.
Sen. Risa Hontiveros said it does not only show awareness among the Chinese, but it was some kind of “concern” shown to its people.
“Bakit sila magwa-waring sa nationals nila dito kung hindi either at least alam nila or at worst ine-encourage nila yung ganyang modus. And ngayon iwa-warn nila yung nationals nil ana maging mas maingat dahil binabantayan niyo sila,” Hontiveros also added.
The Office of the Solicitor General has filed a case for the cancellation of the birth certificate of businessman Joseph Sy, who was found to have faked his Filipino citizenship through fraudulent means.
Assistant Solicitor General James Cundangan said the OSG had filed the case last month, with the first hearing to be held next year.
Cundangan said they were the same team which filed the cancellation of the Filipino birth certificate of controversial former Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo aka Guo Hua Ping.
“For the record, the OSG filed on October 12, 2026 the case against Joseph Sy and the initial hearing is set on January 27, 2027,” Cundangan also said.
Hontiveros welcomed the OSG move, saying “may this be a pathway to the cancellation of other fraudulent birth certificates by other threat actors”.
Sy was not present during Thursday’s hearing, since he was not feeling well, said his legal counsel Alma Mallonga.
Mallonga told the panel that her client “expressed willingness to appear before the Senate” but suddenly felt unwell Wednesday night.
“However, Your Honor, Mr. Sy subsequently called me that he was at the emergency room of Makati Medical Center. He had reportedly been felling unwell since last night. Perhaps, part of his condition nay be attributable to stress, particularly considering that he had been incarcerated for more than 491 days, Your Honor. It has been less than three weeks since his release,” Mallonga also said.
Sy was arrested by the Bureau of Immigration agents upon arrival from Hong Kong at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport on August 21, 2025 and has since been detained.
The BI said Sy falsified his Philippine citizenship and claimed that he is actually a Chinese citizen named Chen Zhong Zhen based on the fingerprints from the BI and National Bureau of Investigation database.
The Supreme Court ordered Sy released on a P900,000 bail. Sy was the former chairman of Glocal Ferronickel Holdings Inc.
In the same hearing, Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) lawyer Eliezer Ambatali said that based on the agency’s Fraud Management Division, Sy was found to have “procured” fake documents so he can avail of the late registration at the age of 41.
“We found out that there is evidence that would say, kumbaga, merong mga procurement ng fake documents during the registration…This type of fraud is the second type, which is it happens at the source during the registration. These are fake baptismal certificates, fake yung hindi makita yung birth records ng mga magulang, hindi rin namin makita yung mga record ng hilot or yung attending person during the time of birth,” Ambatali also said.