A Filipina in a “mail order bride” scheme was stopped from leaving the country after she was intercepted together with her "husband" at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said on Tuesday, March 5.

Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco said the Filipina, 20, and her Chinese companion, 34, were intercepted at the NAIA Terminal 3 last Feb. 28 before they could board a flight to Shenzhen, China.

“This is obviously another case of the mail order bride scheme that has resurfaced recently,” said Tansingco.  

“In this scheme, victims are made to pretend to be the spouses of a foreign nationals, but they end up as pseudo wives doing domestic work in their destination,” he said. 

The Filipina and her Chinese companion, whose names were withheld by the BI, have been turned over to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) for further investigation and filing of cases.

Tansingco said they initially presented themselves as a married couple before immigration officers at the NAIA.

“The immigration officer said both the victim and the suspect acted very suspiciously when asked about their supposed marriage,” he said.

Thus, they were referred to officers BI’s Immigration Protection and Border Enforcement Section (I-PROBES).

The I-PROBES officers disclosed that the Filipina was unable to answer basic details about their marriage.  

During interrogation, the Filipina presented a PSA (Philippine Statistics Authority) certificate of marriage stating that they were married in a restaurant in Pasig City,”  the BI said.

While the document presented was authentic, the Filipina later admitted that "no actual wedding happened, and the marriage certificate was processed by her Chinese escort through an agent,” it also said.

She admitted to have paid P45,000 for the processing of the genuine document with fake details,” it added.