The Bureau of Immigration announced on Tuesday that immigration officers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) arrested a South Korean national who tried to leave the country using a Philippine passport.
According to Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco, the 43-year-old man was arrested on Monday while awaiting a Philippine Airlines flight to Phnom Penh, Cambodia at NAIA Terminal 2.
The foreigner presented a Philippine passport but could not answer basic questions in any Filipino dialect, which caused officers to refer him for secondary inspection.
Additionally, he was unable to describe basic details about his identity, including the names of his parents and his alleged wife and child, despite the use of a Korean translating application.
In a statement, BI Intelligence chief Fortunato Manahan Jr. said: “Upon interview, the alien admitted that he used to have a Korean passport, and he obtained his Philippine passport through another Korean national.”
On the other hand, the foreigner was able to present a postal ID and a Philippine driver’s license, and the passport he presented was found genuine by the BI’s Anti-Fraud Section.
“There have been many instances in the past of foreign nationals obtaining Philippine documents through misrepresentation and illegal means that have been stopped by our alert officers,” Tansingco said.
“We also warn that evading immigration protocols through acquiring spurious documents warrants deportation,” he added.
The Korean is currently at the custody of the BI pending prosecution for violating immigration laws.
