The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has been asked to probe on how undesirable foreign nationals are able to illegally secure authentic Philippine passports and other documents, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said on Thursday, Oct. 12.

“I think it is high time magkaroon ng (that there be a) crackdown against the syndicates that are part of this whether it be from the government or from the private sector,” said BI Spokesperson Dana Mengote-Sandoval during an interview on PTV’s Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon.

Through the help of the NBI and the Department of Justice (DOJ), Sandoval said “maaari pong maimbestigahan ng malalimlalim po itong problemang ito (a deeper investigation can be done about this problem).”

“Nakikita po ito natin talaga as a national security issue (We see this as a national security issue),” she said as he theorized that persons working in the government could be involved.

Sandoval said the BI had already recorded at least 10 cases where foreign nationals were found in possession and using authentic Philippine passports.

“We have forwarded it to the NBI as well as the issuing authority para maimbestigahan pong maige itong kasong ito (to fully investigate these cases),” she said.

She also said the investigation will also look into how these foreigners were able to illegally secure other authentic Philippine documents.

“Doon po sa mga naintercept natin recently hindi lang siya limited to Philippine passports (In those cases were intercepted, we also found authentic Philippine documents)" she said.

“May nakikita po tayong iba’t ibang documents like driver’s license, there was a postal ID, even birth certificates po, national ID a week or two ago (We found other authentic Philippine documents like driver’s license, postal identification cards, birth certificates, and also national ID a week or two ago),” she cited.

She said that based on arrested foreigners who are illegal aliens, most of the documents were merely handed to them by their their compatriots serving as fixers.

“Sa nakikita po natin mukhang malaking sindikato ito dahil hindi lang isang dokumento but different kinds of documents po ang naipepresent ng mga illegal aliens na ito para magpanggap o misrepresent themselves as Filipino citizens (We believe a large syndicate is involved because different kinds of documents have been presented by these illegal aliens who misrepresent themselves as Filipinos),” she also said.