Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 19) — The Bureau of Immigration (BI) on Sunday said the increase in the number of overstaying foreigners who use “fraudulently acquired Philippine passports is alarming.”

“These illegal aliens misrepresent themselves to be able to secure Philippine documents and evade immigration inspection,” BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco said.

The BI chief said last Jan. 23, airport personnel stopped 36-year-old Chinese Zhang Hailin from attempting to fly out of the country in a Thai Airways flight to Hanoi, Vietnam.

Hailin presented a Philippine passport with counterfeit immigration stamps under the name Alex Garcia Tiu. Upon further questioning, Hailin admitted his true nationality, and was found to be overstaying in the country since 2020, Tansingco added.

After a month, Vietnamese Huynh Thanh Tuyen presented a Philippine passport under the name Maria Dantic Menor. She tried to board a Cebu Pacific flight to Saigon, Vietnam.

Earlier this year, the BI intercepted two foreigners who were misrepresenting themselves as Filipinos.

READ: BI raises concern over foreigners misrepresenting as Filipino