The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has arrested and charged two women who attempted to leave the country for Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates using “falsified” travel documents.
NBI Officer-in-Charge (OIC) Director Eric B. Distor identified them as Arbaya Lintukan Mukamad alias "Sandra Lipoles" and Gretchen Ablan who were both arrested at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Pasay City.
In a statement, the NBI said that Mukamad was scheduled to depart last May 3 for Saudi Arabia, but she was intercepted at the immigration section when she presented questionable travel documents.
It said that Mukamad claimed that her birthday was on May 15, 1990 and she is 30 years old, but airport authorities refused to let her depart because she “looked too young.” She claimed that she had travelled to Saudi Arabia in 2017 using the same passport.
She was turned over to NBI’s International Airport Investigation Division (IAID) for further questioning and validation.
The NBI said there were discrepancies when she was asked to fill out her identification card. It said that Mukamad wrote that her true name is Arbaya Lintukan Mukamad and not Sandra Lipoles; her correct date of birth is May 5, 2000; and she got her passport from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in Cotabato City.
It said Mukamad was arrested and was presented for inquest proceedings before the Office of the City Prosecutor of Pasay City for violation of Section 19 (b)(2) of Republic Act 8239, the Philippine Passport Act of 1996.
In the case of Ablan, the NBI said she was set to depart last May 4 as a tourist to Dubai, but airport authorities discovered that she was already off-loaded back on April 22, 2021 due to misrepresentation.
It said Ablan was referred for secondary inspection. She claimed that she was going to visit her husband, Joey Damasco Manaligod, and presented copies of the passport bio-page and the U.A.E. Visa sticker of Manaligod, it also said.
But the NBI said the Central Query Support System of the Bureau of Immigration noticed that alterations were made in the documents provided by Ablan who, thereafter, confessed that she was not married and does not even know Manaligod.
It said Ablan disclosed that all the documents for her May 4 flight were only sent to her on May 3, 2021 by her recruiter through another person in Baclaran, Parañaque City.
It added that the IAID also questioned Ablan on the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) Test Report issued by Dagupan Doctors Villaflor Memorial Hospital under her name. Ablan admitted that she had not taken any COVID-19 test, and the hospital confirmed her admission, it said.
She was arrested and charged with violation of Article 172 in relation to Article 171 of the Revised Penal Code or Use of Falsified Documents, and like Mukamad, she was presented for inquest proceedings before the Office of the City Prosecutor of Pasay City, it added.