A man, who claimed to be a deaf-mute, was arrested at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) on Wednesday, Oct. 4, for using a fake Philippine passport, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said.
The BI said identified him as Sengaloun Phimpa who arrived at NAIA's Terminal 3 from Bangkok, Thailand.
“We have reason to suspect that this man is pretending to be deaf-mute to avoid having to speak Filipino,” said BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco.
Thus, Tansingco said, Phimpa will undergo investigation and, if proven to be a foreign national, he will be transferred to the BI’s detention facility inside Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City while he awaits deportation.
In a statement, BIO said that "upon inspection, immigration officer Cristine Niepes found numerous inconsistencies on the passport, prompting her to subject it for tertiary inspection with the bureau’s forensic documents laboratory."
“Forensic inspection revealed that Phimpa presented a fraudulent passport, with counterfeit immigration stamp and Thai visa,” it said.
It also said that found in Phimpa's possession were a Philippine tax identification number (TIN) card, a Philippine Postal identification card, and other Thai documents.