A MALAYSIAN was barred by immigration officers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport from entering the country for using a spurious passport with a different name.
The foreigner, identified as Paul Daniel Lim, was intercepted at the Naia 3 terminal aboard a Cebu Pacific flight from Kota Kinabalu.
Lim was excluded for using a spurious travel document and confessed that he only assumed the identity of the person in the passport to travel to Manila.
“His apprehension is a product of the extra vigilance that our immigration officers were told to exercise amid reports that some foreign jihadists have managed to slip into our country through our airports,” BI commissioner Jaime Morente said.
Morente instructed immigration officers to be stricter in assessing foreign travelers from countries where the said jihadists usually come from, such as Malaysia, Indonesia and the Middle East.
BI port operations division chief Marc Red Marias said immigration officers noticed that his facial appearance did not match the picture in the biopage of the passport that he presented.
His passport was in the name of a certain Arry Bin Jong, a 37-year-old who in the picture looked different and younger than the passenger.
Mariñas said it was during questioning that Lim gave his real name and confessed that the passport he used was fraudulently acquired.
He alleged he was forced to hide his real identity because he is wanted in Malaysia for estafa after he reneged on paying the car loan of a friend that he had guaranteed.
Mariñas also said Lim named his Filipino contact who resides in Quezon City and where he allegedly intended to stay.