The Bureau of Immigration (BI) is thinking of appropriate legal actions against social media personality Christian Albert “Xian” Gaza who claimed that was able to fly out of the Philippines despite having three warrants of arrest.
Bureau of Immigration spokesperson, Dana Sandoval, said in a statement on Monday that Gaza exaggerated his claims and that no one will be able to leave the country if they have an existing arrest warrant.
Sandoval said that Gaza made it look like he was able to pull something off that can only happen in movies.
“Booking numerous flights will not help evade police. Everything is recorded in our systems. With one click you’ll know which flight a person really took,” Sandoval said.
“Since he had no derogatory record when he left, he was cleared for departure. It was quite uneventful and ordinary, really, No Hollywood-level storyline. Just regular immigration clearance. Stunts like this using the Bureau to gain fame and stay relevant is a security risk. He is making a mockery of our airport procedures for attention,” Sandoval added.
The BI spokesperson pointed out that once a person has a hit for an existing hold departure order or warrant of arrest, he/she will be immediately be barred from flying out.
“This story is preposterous similar to other claims he made in the past. If you know regular airport procedures, his story sounds silly,” she noted.
Sandoval said their legal department is now “studying possible actions against him”.
The BI official noted that the Facebook post which went viral may pose risk on the security in the airport particularly the BI inspections.
“He is encouraging other people to circumvent our immigration inspection through these schemes,” she added.
She likewise clarified that the alleged conversation between Gaza and an immigration officer did not happen.
“The story is preposterous, similar to other claims he made in the past. If you know regular airport procedures, his story sounds silly. Ang daming (There are lot of) loopholes,” she added.
Gaza has been sentenced to five years in jail last year after the Malabon Metropolitan Trial Court found him guilty beyond reasonable doubt of violating Batas Pambansa (BP) 22 or the Anti-Bouncing Checks Law.
Gaza became a trending topic on social media in 2017 when he asked actress Erich Gonzales to go on a date with him by putting up a huge billboard in Morayta, Manila.
