Remulla: Third-party should issue visas to China nationals, not DFA

Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla on Monday said he would recommend to President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. that a third-party issuer should handle the visas of Chinese nationals instead of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

“Ire-recommend namin sa pangulo na wag na DFA ang mag issue ng mga visa ng mga tao galing sa China sapagkat ito po ay nagkakaroon ng problema ang ating bansa dito,” Remulla said in a media briefing.

(We will recommend to the President that DFA should no longer issue visas to people coming from China because there were problems with this.)

According to Remulla, the government could instead use VFS, a visa outsourcing and technology services company.

“Pagka kagaya ng VFS, yung third-party provider ang nag ano, ang tumingin, napakadali nila i-validate yun sa loob ng China,” he said.

(If it’s something like the VFS, a third-party provider, it will be easy for them to validate the documents inside China.)

The Justice Secretary said lawyers and liaison officers of travel agencies have numerous ways to enable foreign nationals to enter the country.

“‘Yung mga pekeng kumpanya na ginagamit upang mag issue ng visa at ito po ay dumadaan sa legal department ng Burea uf Immigration and Deportation,” he said.

(Fake companies are used to issue visas, and these go through the legal department of the Bureau of Immigration and Deportation.)

“At dumadaan ito sa pamamagitan ng Board Secretary. Mga opisyal na dapat siguro marahil ay pag aralan kung sila ay nararaapat pa na nandoon sila,” Remulla added.

(And this is going through the Board Secretary. Officials may need to look into whether they still deserve to be there.)

When asked if he had talked with Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo, Remulla said they had talked about it a while back.

“Pero walang nangyari. Kasi hindi kaya nila yung, they cannot reinvent the wheel. Itong sinasabi kong wheel, yung VFS kasi, yung buong mundo… umaasa na ito as VFS system," he said.

(But nothing happened. Because they could not reinvent the wheel. This is what I was saying. The whole world is relying on the VFS system.)

“You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Hindi na dapat iniimbento to. Kapag tayo pupunta tayo ng Europa sa VFS tayo nag pupunta. Mas strikto sila. At saka na va-validate nila kung totoo yung mga nakatala sa talaan na mga requirement na hinihngi ng bawat bansa,” he added.

GMA News Online has sought comment from the DFA, but the Foreign Affairs Department had yet to respond as of posting time.

The Senate recently withdrew the plenary approval of the Philippine Statistics Authority's proposed 2024 budget over the alleged issuance of authentic birth certificates to foreign nationals, which enabled these foreigners to get Philippine passports.

Senator Ronald Bato Dela Rosa said the DFA's budget could also be recalled due to the Philippine passports issued to foreign nationals. — DVM, GMA Integrated News