BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco said that a 43-year-old man, who used a Filipino name in his Philippine passport, was apprehended on Monday awaiting a Philippine Airlines flight to Phnom Penh, Cambodia at NAIA terminal 2.
In a report, BI Intelligence Chief Fortunato Manahan, Jr. said that the Korean presented a Philippine passport, but could not answer basic questions in any Filipino dialect.
This caused the primary inspector to doubt the authenticity of his travel document and referred him for secondary inspection.
“Upon interview, the alien admitted that he used to have a Korean passport, and he obtained his Philippine passport through another Korean national,” said Manahan.
The Korean was also able to present a postal ID and a Philippine driver’s license.
The BI’s Anti-Fraud Section certified that the passport Kim presented was found genuine.
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.
Tansingco then seeks a probe on the fraudulently-acquired Philippine passport. “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,” the BI Chief said. “We also warn that evading immigration protocols through acquiring spurious documents warrants deportation,” he added.
The Korean is currently being held by the BI pending prosecution for violating immigration laws.
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