A Filipina’s travel abroad on the eve of Valentine's Day was stopped by immigration officers after finding fictitious data on the marriage certificate she presented together with her supposed Chinese husband who was set to travel with her. 

“This is very concerning, since they are able to present authentic documents despite their sham marriage,” lamented Immigration Commissioner NormanTansingco. 

Citing the report of the BI’s Immigration Protection and Border Enforcement Section (I-PROBES), Tansingco said that the Chinese man, who also works in the Philippines, presented to immigration officers “an apostilled original certificate of marriage.”

He said the marriage certificate underwent the BI’s forensic documents laboratory examinations and was  found that “the documents presented were genuine, despite having fake details.”

During the departure formalities, the BI said "the immigration officer noted numerous inconsistencies in their statements and referred them for secondary inspection.” 

“In the certificate, it was claimed that the couple got married in Kamasi, Maguindanao last  October 2022.  However, verification of the man’s travel records showed that he was not in the country during the supposed wedding.  The Filipina later admitted she did not personally process her marriage certificate, and had no idea how it was processed,” the bureau said.

Later, it said, the Chinese disclosed that “the marriage certificate was processed by an agency in China, for which they paid P40,000.”

Tansingco suspected that the incident could be another mail order bride scheme. “In the scheme, women are made to travel with their pseudo-husbands to be trafficked abroad,” he said. 

He cited that last Jan. 18, a female victim was rescued at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) after being almost trafficked to Xiamen, China by a Chinese man who pretended to be the husband of a relative.