MANILA, Philippines – The Bureau of Immigration’s (BI) arrest and continued detention of Global Ferronickel Holdings Incorporated chairman Joseph Sy is illegal due to lack of jurisdiction, the Court of Appeals (CA) ruled.

In a 15-page ruling penned by Associate Justice Carlito Calpatura, the CA’s Special Eight Division denied the BI’s petition that sought to nullify the decision of the Taguig City Regional Trial Court (RTC) in September. The RTC ordered Sy’s immediate release from BI detention.

The appellate court held that the BI cannot proceed with the deportation proceedings against Sy since he is a Filipino national based on his birth certificate, which remains valid unless it is canceled. The CA also reminded the immigration bureau that it cannot institute deportation proceedings against Filipino citizens.

Sy was arrested by immigration authorities at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in August 2025 when returning from Hong Kong.

The BI insists that Sy is actually a Chinese national named Cheng Zhong Zhen. He became the subject of a BI probe after the bureau received intelligence that the businessman allegedly acquired his Philippine citizenship documents illegally.

According to the BI, Sy’s fingerprints also matched those appearing on the records of a Chinese national.

Senate Deputy Majority Leader Risa Hontiveros — one of the lawmakers who helped expose former Bamban mayor Alice Guo’s links to Philippine offshore gaming hubs — had also voiced concern that Sy was able to join the Philippine Coast Guard Auxiliary in 2018.

Court records showed that Sy applied for the late registration of his birth in 2007. He was also issued a Philippine passport in the years 2010, 2014, 2019, 2017, and 2021.

The CA said that Sy’s birth certificate is considered prima facie evidence of his citizenship, and should have been given more weight over Cheng’s alien certificate of registration records since the former is a public document.

“It is not for Sy to prove its alleged falsity, but for the respondents-appellants who are assailing the certificate to prove it. As a duly registered public document, the birth certificate is presumed to have undergone the process prescribed by law for the late registration of birth,” the CA said.

Sy resigned as director of Global Ferronickel in December 2025 due to “personal considerations.” – Rappler.com