The Philippine National Bureau of Investigation may investigate "how foreigners illegally obtain real Philippine passports"

"I think it's time to crack down on the criminal groups involved, whether they come from the government or the private sector," said Dana mengert Sandoval, a spokesman for the immigration department, according to the report."

"We see this as a national security issue," Sandoval said."

Because Sandoval speculated that government workers might be involved.

Sandoval said immigration authorities have recorded at least 10 cases of foreigners holding and using Philippine passports.

"We have forwarded it to the NBID as well as the issuing agencies to fully investigate these cases," Sandoval said."

Sandoval also said it would also investigate how these foreigners illegally obtained other authentic Filipino documents. "In those cases that were intercepted, we also found other authentic Filipino documents such as driver's licenses, postal ID cards, birth certificates, etc."

According to the case of the arrested illegal aliens, most of the documents are only handed to them by fellow citizens who act as intermediaries.

"We believe a large criminal group is involved because different kinds of documents have these illegal aliens disguising themselves as Filipinos."