Alarm raised over arrest of Chinese national allegedly posing as Filipina

Metro Manila, Philippines - Senators have sounded the alarm following the arrest of a Chinese national allegedly posing as a Filipina, a case reminiscent of former Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo.

Wang Xiujun, a 43-year-old Chinese national allegedly using the alias Cassia Palma Poliquit, was arrested by operatives of the Bureau of Immigration and the National Bureau of Investigation at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport on Sunday, July 13.

Wang arrived in Manila from Kuala Lumpur, the bureau said. It added that it began monitoring the Chinese after receiving an alert about her suspicious identity, noting that an NBI examination showed Wang and Poliquit’s fingerprints matched.

“Wang is considered to be the ‘Alice Guo’ of the Metro, after the BI received intelligence information on her involvement in businesses selling and distributing electric vehicles in Metro Manila--all while using a fraudulently-acquired Filipino identity,” the BI said in a statement on Monday.

“She is said to have a Philippine passport and a birth certificate which was acquired via late registration despite being a Chinese national holding an investor’s visa,” the agency added.

Wang is detained at the BI warden’s facility, pending deportation proceedings.

Senate Deputy Minority Leader Risa Hontiveros, who led marathon hearings on Guo Hua Ping - the Chinese national who acquired Philippine documents under the name Alice Guo and became mayor linked to illegal offshore gaming operations - said she was not surprised that a similar case appears to have emerged involving Wang.

“Our Senate hearings on POGO (Philippine offshore gaming operations) and Alice Guo clearly showed that official Filipino documents have been up for sale and used for evil,” Hontiveros said.

She added that the Philippine Statistics Authority and the Department of Foreign Affairs should consider cleaning up their ranks.

Senator Win Gatchalian, who has long advocated against POGOs, said Wang’s case highlights the country’s ongoing vulnerabilities in national security and civil registration, stressing the urgent need to strengthen the integrity of national records.

“Saludo ako sa ating law enforcers sa operasyong ito ngunit dapat mas paigtingin pa ang laban sa mga banyagang mapanlinlang. Dapat silang panagutin at ipadeport, walang palusot,” Gatchalian said.

[Translate: I salute our law enforcers in this operation, but efforts should be ramped up against foreign impostors. They should be held accountable and deported, no exceptions.]