Four passengers were barred from traveling to Mindanao after they presented fake coronavirus disease (COVID-19) test results at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) on April 3.
Col. Christian Melchor, chief of the Philippine National Police Aviation Security Group-National Capital Region, said the passengers presented fake negative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test results purportedly from the Philippine Red Cross.
Melchor identified the passengers as Miko Aski, 19; Nuraina Husbani, 28; Laila Sahang Muksan, 27; and Mariam Akmad, 24. All four are residents of Lower Bicutan in Taguig City.
It was disclosed that Aski and Husbani were prevented from leaving for Zamboanga at 9:30 a.m. on April 3 while Muksan and Akmad, who were bound for Cotabato, were stopped at the airport at 4:30 p.m. on the same day.
Their documents were deemed fake after a discrepancy was found in the QR code of their test results during check in, Melchor said.
The Philippine Red Cross, on the other hand, said that the passengers did not undergo testing in any of their facilities and that the documents they presented are not from their organization.
The passengers, however, insisted that they had nothing to do with the fake results, claiming that they paid someone P3,000 for the test results.