Illegal acquisition of Philippine passports and other documents by foreigners is already a "national security issue"

Philippine Bureau of Immigration (BI) Director Norman Tansingco reiterated Tuesday that the illegal acquisition of Philippine passports and documents by foreign nationals constitutes a national security concern.

At the Senate hearing, Chen shared at least 10 recent cases involving illegal use of Philippine passports by foreigners. In addition, in addition to passports, many foreign citizens also illegally obtain government documents such as birth certificates, driver's licenses, and postal cards.

The Director of Immigration shared that in April this year, a Danny Wong provided relevant documents, claiming that he was a Filipino of Chinese and Korean descent. However, the authorities followed up and found that he was of Korean nationality.

In October this year, Pakistanis suspected of being linked to terrorist organizations, Faizan Muhammad and Ajmal Ali, provided their own identity documents as Filipino citizens, including national identity cards and driver's license cards, but follow-up investigations also found that they were foreigners.

"These foreigners use authentic documents to falsify their identities, which makes detection and arrest more difficult. But I believe that through the professionalism and advanced skills of our officials, we will be able to catch these illegal foreign citizens," Chen said."

Foreigners found in possession of documents illegally obtaining Filipino citizenship will face charges of violating Philippine immigration laws and will be detained in the Tat City Detention Center pending deportation and blacklisting.