DOJ gave Chinese fugitives asylum privileges

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has been flagged for a pattern of granting refugee status — or extending asylum-seeker benefits — to Chinese fugitives wanted for financial crimes.

Rappler has obtained documents that show this has been a standing concern in government for more than a year, but it had remained unaddressed until Senator Risa Hontiveros exposed it in her privilege speech on Wednesday, December 10.

The office concerned is the DOJ Refugees and Stateless Persons Protection Unit (RSPPU). “The pattern suggests either a serious failure in our screening mechanism or deliberate facilitation, whether through neglect, influence, or corruption,” said Hontiveros.

The DOJ, through spokesperson Polo Martinez, told Rappler on Thursday, December 11, that the RSPPU would rather address the issue when the Senate committee on justice hears it next week.

Asylum applications immediately stop deportation

The Philippines is signatory to the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, and has a long tradition of protecting foreigners who are fleeing war and persecution in their home countries.

“We continue to honor that commitment to the Syrians, the Palestinians, the Rohingya peoples. Pero ngayon, lumalabas na pati ito ay nilalapastangan na rin. Hindi dapat ito ginagawang taguan ng mga kriminal,” said Hontiveros. (But now, it appears that this has been abused. Criminals shouldn’t be able to hide under this.)

Under the DOJ’s Department Circular No. 058, a mere application for asylum triggers the suspension of any deportation proceeding. It’s consistent with the principle of non-refoulement, or not compelling asylum seekers to go back to where they could be persecuted. The circular also empowers the DOJ to order the immigration bureau to release the asylum-seekers pending decision on their application.

In March 2025, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) apprehended a Chinese national whom they suspected to be holding a fraudulent Philippine passport under a different name. Rappler has a copy of that passport, which bears a name different from that in his Chinese and Hong Kong passports. BI verified that the person has an Interpol blue notice from China for investment fraud. “This entails undesirability,” said a memorandum from the BI.

But two months later, the DOJ RSPPU ordered his release on bail while the DOJ deliberates on his application. The DOJ RSPPU explained in its resolution that an Interpol blue notice is only an alert notice. It’s similar to the BI’s immigration lookout bulletin order or ILBO, which is an alert mechanism, and not a prohibition to travel.

Asked about that specific case, BI spokesperson Dana Sandoval told Rappler that “we trust in the integrity of this process conducted by our mother department.” The BI is an agency attached to the DOJ.

Hontiveros detailed a recent case, involving a Chinese man called Lin Xiangqian who was arrested by the BI on December 3 because there was a warrant out for him in China for running illegal online gambling operations.

“Ayon sa intel reports tungkol sa kanya, he continued running underground POGO-style scam enterprises here kahit na banned na ang POGO sa ating bansa,” said Hontiveros.

(According to the intelligence reports on him, he continued running underground POGO-style scam enterprises here even though POGO is banned in our country.)

POGO stands for the now-banned Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGO), which Chinese crime gangs have used as structures for running scam centers in the Philippines, most prominently the one in Bamban, Tarlac. Disgraced Bamban mayor Alice Guo has been sentenced to life imprisonment for qualified human trafficking, while the big boss — a prominent figure in a network that runs across Southeast Asia — remains at large.

Lin Xiangqian immediately applied for asylum, “and this was enough to prevent his deportation,” according to Hontiveros.

“What is happening here? Are we taking applicants’ declarations at face value in forms that are not made under oath? Or are they declaring truthfully or are we ignoring the rules? Kapabayaan ba? (Is it negligence?) Why am I more inclined to believe that something fishy is happening,” said Hontiveros.

‘Who dropped the ball here?’

Under the same DOJ circular, persons “who have committed a serious non-political crime outside the Philippines prior to their admission to the Philippines” shall not have protection under the UN convention.

Rappler has learned that the DOJ was alerted as early as October 2024 that it not only suspended the deportation of five individuals wanted in China for non-political crimes — such as embezzlement, illegal gambling, and financial fraud — but had also granted them refugee status, despite Interpol red notices issued against them.

The DOJ, through their budget sponsor, told the Senate during their budget hearing on November 21 that asylum applications take “one to two years” to be decided. But the DOJ granted asylum to two Chinese nationals with questionable backgrounds within months.

One of them was apprehended at the airport in December 2022 as she tried to depart the Philippines to go to Japan. She was found with a non-Chinese foreign passport, and has “an existing warrant for occupational embezzlement” from China in 2017, according to the BI. She was released after four months — after being granted refugee status.

The other one has been at large from China, Rappler has confirmed through Chinese court documents. A 2021 judgment from the Shanghai Jiading District People’s Court described the supposed refugee as an e-sports boss who “instructed” associates to “seek illegal profits.” Gambling is illegal in China.

The man went to the Philippines from the United States in 2024 while evading his Chinese warrant, and was then apprehended by Philippine immigration authorities as he tried to depart for Japan. He was granted asylum after only two months.

“Ang nakakakaba pa (what’s concerning), most of these bad actors are still in the Philippines, free to continue criminal activities while enjoying the mantle of protection of our refugee system,” said Hontiveros.

“Who dropped the ball here?” the senator asked. – Rappler.com