American with fake Philippine passport nabbed at NAIA

Bureau of Immigration (BI) agents have arrested an American at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) for attempting to enter the country with a fake Philippine passport.

In a report to BI Commissioner Jaime Morente, port operations chief Grifton Medina said 49-yearold Elmer Doller was apprehended Saturday when he arrived at the NAIA 3 terminal on a Qatar Airways flight from Doha.

Medina said the fraudulent passport drew the attention of the immigration officer who noticed that the document has no security feature and could not be detected when scanned using the passport reader.

Medina said Doller initially claimed his passport was genuine because his mother is a Filipina, but confessed later that he got it from a friend in Cavite.

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

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

Also last Saturday, TCEU officers at NAIA terminal 1 apprehended a Filipina who tried to leave the country for Spain with a fake Schengen visa.

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, although the return ticket and hotel booking she presented was 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 (IACAT) for investigation and assistance.