Ordered the arrest of 1,000 overstayers and blacklisted foreigners? The Philippine Immigration Bureau refuted the text message.

On February 23, local time, the Philippine Immigration Bureau (BI) issued a reminder to refute the SMS notice about the immediate expulsion of thousands of overstaying foreign citizens in the capital region.

According to the content of the text message, the sender was "the legal, intelligence and alien department of the immigration department" and the content was "to immediately arrest more than 1000 overstay (over staying) and blacklist order foreign citizens in the capital region. The arrest warrant is for immediate implementation and the relevant personnel will be deported."

The Philippine Immigration Service has not issued a further statement on this.