American arrested at Manila airport for using fake Philippine passport

passport
The American tried to claim he was a Philippine citizen before admitting that the fake passport had been given to him by “a friend in Cavite”.

Bureau of Immigration agents have arrested an American at Manila airport for attempting to enter the country using a fake Philippine passport.

In a report to BI Commissioner Jaime Morente, port operations chief Grifton Medina said the 49-year-old Elmer Dullier was apprehended yesterday (Saturday, April 6) when he arrived at the the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) on a Qatar Airways flight from Doha.

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Mr Medina said the fraudulent passport drew the attention of the immigration officer who noticed that the document was lacking security features and could not be detected when scanned using the passport reader.

He said Dullier initially claimed his passport was genuine because his mother was a Filipina, but confessed later on that he obtained it from “a friend in Cavite”.

The BI’s travel control and enforcement unit (TCEU) chief Erwin Ortañez said Medina could not explain how he became a Filipino when under the 1935 Constitution only those born to Filipino fathers are considered to be citizens of the county.

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“He also did not elect Philippine citizenship upon reaching the age of majority nor applied for recognition as a Philippine citizen,” Mr Ortañez said.

Dullier is now being held at a BI detention centre and he could face charges for violating Philippine immigration law.

Also yesterday, TCEU officers at the NAIA apprehended a Philippine woman who tried to leave the country for Spain with a fake Schengen visa.

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TCEU head supervisor Glenn Ford Comia said the passenger aroused the suspicion of immigration officers after she claimed that she was vacationing in Barcelona for 11 days, even though the return ticket and hotel booking she presented were good for only three days.

The BI’s forensic laboratory later certified that the woman’s visa was counterfeit.

She was turned over to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking for investigation and assistance.

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