INQUIRER file photo / ALEXIS CORPUZ
MANILA, Philippines — A 37-year-old Senegalese man is facing deportation after presenting a fake passport and other documents, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said.
The bureau did not give the name of the foreigner but said the man filed an application for the extension of his tourist visa in early April and then authorities found various discrepancies in his documentation. This prompted them to double-check the man’s credentials.
The BI’s forensic documents laboratory inspected the foreigner’s papers and eventually confirmed that the passport and border stamp he presented were counterfeit.
The Senegalese is now under investigation and is set to be charged with violation of Philippine immigration laws. He will also be facing deportation and may be blacklisted or barred from re-entering the Philippines.
BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco lauded the bureau’s employees and described them as “highly-skilled in fraud detection, so schemes like this will definitely be caught.”
“We will deport anyone who tries to defraud the system,” he added.—Maria Liezl Projella, trainee
RELATED STORIES
BI deports top Mongolian gov’t official arrested in Cebu
1,339 foreigners deported in 2022
Immigration detention head, 35 others sacked over foreign detainees’ VIP treatment