A Senegalese is under investigation after being accused of presenting a fraudulent passport and border arrival stamp, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said.
According to BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco, the 37-year-old Senegalese filed an application for the extension of his tourist visa earlier this month.
BI tourist visa section chief Raymond Remigio reported that his team noted various discrepancies on the man’s documentation.
He said that frontliner Desiree Maliksi doubted the authenticity of the passport and referred the matter to him for secondary check.
They later submitted the subject’s documents to the BI’s forensic documents laboratory, which confirmed that the passport and border stamp presented were counterfeit.
Tansingco then lauded the work of immigration personnel and warned foreigners against forgery. “Our personnel are highly-skilled in fraud detection, so schemes like this will definitely be caught,” he said. “We will deport anyone who tries to defraud the system,” warned the Bl Chief.
The alien is now under investigation, and is set to be charged with violation of Immigration laws. He faces deportation and blacklisting, effectively barring him from re-entering the country.
First day of eTravel rollout successful – BI
Bureau of Immigration (BI) Commissioner Norman Tansingco shared that the first day of the rollout of the eTravel platform was very successful.
More than 32,000 arriving foreigners and Filipinos registered for the system while more than 14,000 departing Filipinos logged in the site.
The system, which was rolled out on April 15, is a single data collection platform for arriving and departing passengers for purposes of establishing an integrated border control, health surveillance, and economic data analysis.
The system is an initiative of a sub-technical working group of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF), chaired by the BI. It is a joint project of the agency with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), the Department of Tourism (DOT), the Bureau of Quarantine (BOQ), the Bureau of Customs (BOC), the Department of Health (DOH), the Department of Transportation (DOTr), the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the National Privacy Commission (NPC).
The platform, which was initially launched in December, was initially rolled out at the arrival area, and was expanded to cover departing travelers.
Technical Working Group Head Dennis Javier shared that a virtual orientation and question-and-answer session was conducted virtually on Friday with the Airline Operators Council (AOC).
The purpose of the session was to address various inquiries from participating airlines pertaining to the implementation of the eTravel system.
Javier shared that they also conducted a meeting with BI terminal heads and immigration officers to address any operational concerns.
“So far, the implementation remains very smooth, with no noted glitches or issues,” said Javier.
Tansingco said that the system is at par with systems being used by other countries for their arrival and departure data. “Modernization of the Bureau is really one of the priorities of the BI,” said Tansingco. “This is but the first step in many technological improvements in immigration,” he added.
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