DAVAO CITY – The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI)-Davao arrested a 21-year-old Chinese national on Tuesday afternoon, July 9, for applying for a Philippine passport at the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA)-Davao here using falsified documents.

THE National Bureau of Investigation-Davao arrested a 21-year-old Chinese national on July 9 for possession of fraudulent government-issued documents in applying for a Philippine passport at Department of Foreign Affairs in Davao City. (Keith Bacongco)

NBI-Davao Region Director Arcelito Albao said in a press conference on Wednesday, July 10, that the DFA-Davao alerted the NBI-Davao that a Chinese national using the Filipino name Hengson Jabilles Limosnero attempted to apply for a passport. Albao said the suspect was accompanied by the family driver.

Albao, however, declined to disclose the suspect's Chinese name, pending verification of his real identity from the Bureau of Immigration.

In a brief interview with the media, the suspect, who was presented during the press conference, admitted to possessing a Chinese passport.

Albao said that the Chinese used a birth certificate, driver’s license, and national identification (ID) card from the Philippine Statistics Authority to apply for a passport.

He said that the Chinese used his fake identity to study high school at Philippine Academy of Sakya Davao and college at the Ateneo de Davao University (ADDU). Albao said the Chinese is a first-year accountancy student at ADDU.

The suspect will face charges for violating the New Philippine Passport Act and Revised Penal Code penalizing falsification of public documents, perjury, and using fictitious name and concealing true name, Albao said.

He said the suspect was issued original documents and IDs by various government agencies but were considered falsified as the information was false.

Albao said that the suspect and his family have been residing in Davao City for 10 years. He said they own a hardware business in this city’s Chinatown District on Ramon Magsaysay Ave., called by residents Uyanguren.

The NBI-Davao head added that an employee from DFA-Davao doubted the suspect’s nationality and authenticity of the documents as he could not speak Cebuano, not fluent in Tagalog, and could only talk in English during interview.

He said the Chinese gave inconsistent answers during the interview.

Albao said the suspect applied for a passport as he wanted to become a Philippine citizen and plans to travel to the US.

Investigation, Albao said, also showed that the suspect was brought by his family to Davao when he was 10-years-old. They used an address in Barangay Inawayan in Santa Cruz town, Davao del Sur, in belatedly registering his birth at the Local Civil Registrar (LCR) in 2013.

Albao said the suspect was born in Fujian province.

He said that his birth certificate was used as a requirement to secure other government-issued documents and IDs.

Albao added that the suspect’s father is currently in China while his mother, who has a Filipina name Felica, lives with him in Davao.

He said authorities are tracking the whereabouts of the suspect's family and investigating if they have other relatives in the county.

Albao said that when he talked to the mother over the phone shortly after her son’s arrest, she could not speak Cebuano or Tagalog.

He said investigators are still investigating if the mother is using a Philippine passport.

“Allegedly, ang name is Filipino also but when I spoke to her, hindi rin marunong mag-Bisaya at Tagalog (I was able to talk to the mother. Allegedly, her name is Filipino but when I spoke to her, she could not speak Visayan or Tagalog),” he said.

Albao added that they are tracking down 200 personalities who were issued with birth certificates by the LCR in Santa Cruz from 2018 to 2019 to verify their nationality.

He said that the majority of these individuals could be Chinese nationals.