Gatchalian questions non-confiscation of Immigration cards from raided POGO workers

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian on Wednesday questioned the Bureau of Immigration's supposed failure to confiscate the Alien Certificate of Registration Identification Card (ACR I-Card) from foreign nationals who were part of the raided Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations (POGO) companies.

The lawmaker raised this issue at the Senate blue ribbon committee's investigation into the alleged unauthorized proliferation and use of government documents by foreign nationals, such as certificates of live birth, passports, and tax identification numbers.

Gatchalian showed photos of ACR I-Cards that were confiscated in a raid on November 30,2023 but the companies that the foreign nationals were supposed to be working in were already raided in August last year.

"How come these IDs are still being used even though...the original company ...were already closed down three or four months ago? These individuals still carry live [and] current BI IDs whose registration(s) are under the previous companies that were raided and closed down," Gatchalian said.

Gatchalian pointed out that these foreign nationals are just some of the employees from the previously raided POGO companies.

"We don't know how many individuals carry the same ID, going around in our country and showing valid IDs issued by the BI. Paano nangyari ito? 'Di ba after the raid, it should have been forfeited and should have been revoked?" he asked.

BI Intelligence Division chief Fortunato Manahan agreed with Gatchalian's observation and explained that all the ACR I-Cards and visas of foreign nationals from the raided POGO hubs have already been revoked weeks or months after the operations.

However, Manahan said the revocation would only reflect in their system and does not automatically mean that the physical card is confiscated.

"The physical card will always say na it's valid, unless kami ang makahuli and we will destroy the card," Manahan said.

Manahan explained that the BI only fails to confiscate the ACR I-Cards from the foreign nationals when they are not the ones who are leading the operations.

Gatchalian then suggested the BI to also confiscate the physical cards as these might be presented as valid IDs to other government agencies.

"In our country, physical cards matter. We all know that our government agencies are not inter-connected. There's no way for one government agency to check the validity of information through the other government agency," he said.

"Once you show the physical card, immediately, you think that this person is legitimate, the card they are holding is also legitimate, but we are talking about crimes. We are talking about human trafficking syndicates that were apprehended and yet, they are carrying valid IDs. Even though you’re saying in the system it's not valid, but I think it's better to just confiscate it para hindi nila magamit," he added.

Further, Gatchalian stressed that the "trend" in POGO industry is that the employees from raided companies are just transferring to other POGO firms.

"They use the same document to move around. So ang nangyayari, raid one but they move to another company, you raid another one, they move to another company. What’s concerning here is the validity of that document and of course the physical possession of that document," he said.

"If we can somehow collect those physical cards because it's active e… they are still there and it doesn't look good that those cards were registered to a previous company which was closed down because of human trafficking incidents," he went on.

Senator Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa echoed Gatchalian's point, and said there will be "string of crimes" if BI fails to account for the ACR I-Cards physically. —LDF, GMA Integrated News