Bureau of Immigration (BI) officers at the Ninoy Aquino International (NAIA) intercepted a Chinese national who attempted to leave the country using a fake Philippine passport.
BI Commissioner Jaime Morente said that the Chinese man, who initially presented himself as Mark Anthony Cobeng, 33, was intercepted on Tuesday before boarding his flight to Maldives via a private jet.
According to Morente, the primary inspection officer initially noticed discrepancies in the biopage of the passport, which appeared to be counterfeit.
“Upon seeing irregularities in the travel document, the officer proceeded to interview the passenger. That is when they noticed that the passenger did not even know how to speak basic Filipino words,” said Morente.
Morente further shared that the foreigner was in the company of another Chinese national who voluntarily deferred his flight.
Meanwhile, port operations chief Atty. Carlos Capulong disclosed that some tension arose when the Chinese man refused immigration inspection.
“The foreigner was already causing a commotion. We thank the Airport Police Department (APD) and our bureau’s Border Control and Intelligence Unit (BCIU) for the assistance in controlling the situation,” said Capulong.
Morente then warned foreigners who are attempting to deceive BI employees. “The Philippine passport contains a number of overt security features that our officers are trained to examine,” said Morente. “Apart from our officers’ expertise in fraud detection, we are also have a forensic documents laboratory that can analyze the authenticy of passports presented,” he added.
Cobeng was arrested and later turned over to the BI’s Legal Division for deportation proceedings. (TSJ)
