A Filipina was caught at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) on October 19 after trying to deceive immigration officers with a fake marriage certificate. Her intention was to visit a supposed ‘husband’ in Oman.
Bureau of Immigration (BI) officers quickly identified the marriage certificate as a forgery. The woman subsequently admitted that not only was the certificate counterfeit, but so were other documents she presented, including an alleged affidavit of support.
This wasn’t the woman’s first attempt at fraudulent travel. Just a month prior, she had been stopped from traveling to Malaysia due to insufficient documentation. To support her claim, she even presented an edited wedding photograph in an attempt to deceive authorities.
The depth of the deception goes even further, as the woman reportedly paid over Php 30,000 for these fake documents. This has led authorities to believe she might have been aiming to secure illegal employment abroad.
The case has been escalated, with the BI’s Immigration Protection and Border Enforcement Section (I-PROBES) now forwarding her details to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT). Charges are expected to be filed against her recruiter.