DFA rejects 171 passport applications from 'questionable nationalities'

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has denied the passport applications of 171 individuals with "questionable nationalities" and cancelled 66 Philippine passports issued to foreigners, according to DFA Office of Consular Affairs Assistant Secretary Adelio Cruz.

The DFA official divulged this at the Senate finance subcommittee's hearing on the department's proposed P27.4 billion budget for 2025 when asked by senators about their actions on passport applications of individuals who cannot speak Filipino or any local languages.

"We are proud to say that since November last year, we were able to prevent the application of questionable nationalities applying for a Philippine passport. More than 171 attempts have already been prevented by the Office of the Consular Affairs (OCA)," Cruz said.

According to Cruz, they have already submitted 71 cases to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and they have been "actively coordinating" with the Philippine Statistics Authority, the Bureau of Immigration, and the NBI.

Cruz said these applications were made in their temporary off-site passport service (TOPS), in various consular offices (COs), and even in their main consular office in Aseana.

All these 171 applicants have their Philippine birth certificates and there were some that were genuine and there were a number that were "obviously fraudulent."

"What we do po to ensure that this will not happen again is if it was a questionable application, we immediately get the biometrics of that person, flag it all over our COs all over the country and this will prevent them from forum shopping and attempt to apply in other COs," Cruz said.

Cruz also divulged that most of the 171 were first-time applicants and "all with delayed registration of births."

He shared one case in Davao where the foreign national was immediately apprehended by the NBI and another case disguised as a person with disability.

"We have one case in Davao where our CO immediately called the NBI and the agents were able to apprehend the 21-year old Chinese, foreign national... and he was immediately apprehended by the NBI," Cruz said.

"We even had one case where a foreign national came in and he appeared to be a PWD, deaf and dumb. So he just sat there smiling. It was a good thing that we had people who knew how to communicate using sign language. To that extent, we were able to prevent the application of that foreign national," he shared.

"They are trying so many ways and means and so far, we were very diligent and successful in preventing the applications," he went on.

Senator Loren Legarda, who presided over the budget briefing, pointed out the need for close coordination with the law enforcers so these applicants could face the law.

"Pag ako d'yan, dapat yung pulis nandyan na e (It's the police who should handle)," Legarda said.

Responding to this, Cruz said they are in the process of undertaking a memorandum of understanding with the PNP.

"So wherever they apply, once we are sure that it was a fraudulent application, we can already seek the assistance of the nearest police precinct to apprehend these passport actors," Cruz said.

"We have a lot of those po who just walked away but all our COs were advised to immediately call the police precinct or sub-station for assistance," he added.

With Cruz admitting that they had no power to detain a person, Legarda suggested the crafting of guidelines that would enable the consular offices to coordinate with law enforcers and handle the foreigners applying for Philippine passports.

Further, Cruz divulged that the DFA had cancelled 66 Philippine passports that were issued to foreign nationals.

"Based on the due diligence of our colleagues at the OCA, and the approval of the secretary, we cancelled 66 passports already that were found to have been fraudulently issued to foreign nationals," Cruz said.

Legarda then instructed the DFA to provide the Senate with the information of the 171 supposed foreigners who attempted to get Philippine passports and the reports on the actions taken by the consular offices in these cases. —LDF, GMA Integrated News