Foreigners Illegal Obtaining Filipino Authentic Passports to Exit Cases Increasingly Frequent

Norman Chen, director of the Philippine Immigration Department (BI), Tansingco recently expressed shock at overstaying foreigners using real but illegally obtained Philippine passports.

the director of immigration noted that since the beginning of this year, immigration officials have seized a number of passports obtained by fraudulent means.

He added: "These unpopular foreigners falsely claim that they can obtain various Philippine documents to avoid immigration checks.

In one example, Chen Xingo recounted that Zhang, a 36-year-old Chinese citizen, was prevented from boarding a plane to Vietnam because immigration officials suspected he was the owner of a PH passport under Alex Garcia Tiu's name. Zhang produced a real Filipino birth certificate at the time, even though his passport bore a forged immigration stamp. He later admitted his true nationality, that is, he has been overstaying since 2020.

In another case, a Vietnamese woman, Huynh Thanh Tuyen, identified as 24, presented a Filipino passport obtained by fraud in the name of Maria Dantic Menor while trying to board a Cebu Pacific flight to Saigon, Vietnam. After a second check, Huynh admitted that she got her Philippine passport with the help of another Vietnamese friend.