THE Bureau of Immigration (BI) on Monday announced the arrest of two Chinese and two Hong Kong nationals at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) for allegedly using fake travel documents in their bid to travel to Canada.
BI port operations chief Grifton Medina said the four aliens were intercepted at the Naia Terminal 2 on Friday where they arrived aboard a Philippine Airlines (PAL) flight from Hong Kong.
Reports said immigration officers got suspicious of the documents that the foreigners were carrying and were brought to the BI’s Travel Control and Enforcement Unit (TCEU) for questioning.
BI-TCEU chief Ma. Timotea Barizo said two of the passengers identified Lam Mik Ho and Mak Hin Chun Adrian, both from Hong Kong, were transiting in Manila, and were supposed to board their connecting flight to Toronto, Canada.
The duo checked in with the airline’s transfer desk upon landing, but airline representatives were surprised when another two, who were later identified as Chinese nationals Chen Kaihui and He Chaorong, presented Hong Kong passports bearing Lam and Mak’s names. “There were two sets of Lam and Maks who wanted to transit to Canada, both sets carrying the same documents,” Barizo shared.
The BI then conducted forensic examination of the documents of the four foreigners and found out Chen and He presented fake Hong Kong passports, and merely assumed the identities.
Chinese passports were later discovered in their possession.
The four were stopped by immigration authorities from boarding their flight to Canada. Canadian authorities, likewise, canceled the electronic travel authorization (ETA) issued to Lam and Mak due to misrepresentation.
Due to the incident, BI Commissioner Jaime Morente directed that the names of the four aliens be included on the immigration’s blacklist.
“These undesirable aliens should be banned from entering our country. They have no right to use the Philippines as a jump off point to enter other countries illegally. Let this serve as a warning. You will be caught,” Morente said.
They were subsequently deported back to Hong Kong and were barred from re-entering the Philippines. With Recto Mercene