Bureau of Immigration (BI) officers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) have arrested an overstaying Vietnamese couple for attempting to leave the country with fake immigration stamps on their passports.
BI port operations chief Grifton Medina said Nguyen Thanh Quang, 35, and his wife Pham Thi Dung, 34, attempted to board a Philippine Airlines flight to Ho Chih Minh City last March 30 when they were intercepted by members of the bureau’s travel control and enforcement unit (TCEU).
Medina said the passports had arrival stamps indicating that they arrived only last March 11 but a check with database showed that they did not arrive on that day.
“They thought they could evade paying their fines for overstaying by making it appear that they arrived only recently through these fake arrival stamps.” Medina said.
According to TCEU chief Erwin Ortañez, the couple had been in the country for nine months as their last date of arrival was June 5 last year.
“Instead of applying for the extension of their stay and pay the required fees, they chose to deal with fixers who make a living by selling these fake stamps to overstaying foreign tourists,” Ortañez said.
The couple is now detained at the BI detention facility in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City, pending their prosecution for violating the Philippine Immigration Act. (Jun Ramirez)
