BI intercepts 'mail order bride victim, fake husband' at NAIA
A Filipina and her "fake" Chinese husband were stopped from leaving the Philippines after she was suspected to be a victim of the “mail order bride” syndicate, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said on Wednesday, April 10.
They were intercepted by immigration officers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) last April 8 before they could board their flight to Fujian, China, the BI said.
“This is yet again another case of the mail-order-bride scheme wherein women are promised a better life abroad but are made to work as domestic workers with little to no salaries at all,” said BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco in a statement.
Their names were withheld by the BI.
It said the Filipina presented a marriage certificate which was inspected by the BI’s forensic documents laboratory and found to be genuine. The documents indicated that she was married at the Manila City Hall, it also said.
But the BI said that its officers doubted her statements pertaining to the documents she presented as proof of marriage.
“Contrary to the certificate she presented, the victim claimed that she and her alleged husband were married inside a travel agency in Manila,” it said.
The woman later admitted that they paid P100,000 to obtain the marriage certificate.
The Filipina and her alleged husband have been turned over to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) for further investigation, the BI said.