THREE suspected fake Pinoys were arrested in Zamboanga del Sur by the Bureau of Immigration (BI), as the bureau raised the alarm on the continued use of illegally-acquired Philippine identities.
According to the BI, the illegal use of Philippine identities remains a problem as foreign nationals are able to acquire authentic Philippine documents despite not being eligible for citizenship and foreign nationals pretending to be Pinoys might be embedding themselves in the country for espionage, or to do criminal activities.
It was learned from BI spokesperson Dana Sandoval that BI-intelligence operatives in Region 9, in coordination with intelligence units of the Philippine army and the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and the 53rd Infantry Battalion, conducted a series of arrests in the peninsula.
Wang Yunpeng, 46, was nabbed in Purok Magallanes, Brgy. Tikwas in Dumalinao, Zamboanga del Sur last June 16 after he misrepresented himself as a Filipino and was allegedly in possession of documentation saying the same. Wang admitted to be operating a coconut charcoal business since 2022, without a proper permits and visa.
Arrested with him was Liu Yang, 45, who was also found working without a permit in Wang’s business.
Sandoval said that arrested on the same day at a shopping center in Molave, Zamboanga del Sur was Lin Shaozhang, 34, who was found managing the said business. Lin was found to be misrepresenting himself as a Filipino, and even possessed a Philippine Driver’s License indicating his nationality as such.
Another Chinese who is suspected of being a fake Pinoy was arrested in the vicinity. Identified as Wang Jingcai, 41, he was found manning a cellphone shop and was also in possession of a Driver’s License indicating his nationality as Filipino.
All subjects were brought to the Zamboanga del Sur Provincial Police Office for inquiry, police blotter, and safekeeping and were transferred the following day to the BI’s facility in Bicutan, Taguig where they shall remain while facing a deportation case.
In a separate development, the BI also announced the interception of two Filipinas involved in a trafficking scheme at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 last June 18. They were turned over to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) for further investigation and the filing of appropriate charges against their recruiter.
The BI’s immigration protection and border enforcement section (I-PROBES) reported that two women, aged 32 and 48, were stopped from boarding a Cebu Pacific flight to Singapore after discrepancies were noted during the initial inspection.
Reports stated that the pair identified themselves as close friends and claimed they were traveling to Singapore for tourism and upon further questioning, the two women revealed that Albania, not Singapore, was their actual destination. They admitted they were recruited to work there as household service workers, with a promised monthly salary of €500 or roughly P38,000.
Sandoval said they further confessed that they were contacted by a recruiter through a Facebook job posting, and all travel and employment documents were coordinated via WhatsApp.
