The Bureau of Immigration (BI) at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) apprehended two foreign nationals attempting to exit the Philippines with questionable documentation. The individuals were intercepted on separate days at NAIA Terminal 3 before boarding outbound flights, according to BI Commissioner Joel Anthony Viado.
Indian national Ram Baldev, 43, was stopped on October 23 while preparing to board a Jetstar flight to Singapore. He was found to lack an arrival stamp on his passport and claimed he had been in the Philippines since 2018. BI officials suspect he may have entered using a different identity or travel document.
The next day, Australian Peter Anthony McFarlane, 65, was prevented from boarding his Cebu Pacific flight to Melbourne due to a counterfeit arrival stamp in his passport. McFarlane claimed he had arrived via yacht in Zamboanga City on October 17; however, a BI database check confirmed no record of his entry, and forensic analysis verified the stamp was fake.
Both men were handed over to the Bureau’s Border Control and Intelligence Unit and are currently detained at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City, awaiting deportation proceedings. Commissioner Viado stated that they would be blacklisted and permanently banned from re-entering the Philippines following deportation.
