BI intercepts ‘mail order bride’ victim bound for China

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) said on Tuesday that immigration officers intercepted another victim of a mail order bride scheme who was bound for China.

According to the BI's Immigration Protection and Border Enforcement Section (I-PROBES), the 20-year-old victim was being escorted by a 34-year-old Chinese man at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 last February 28

The victim initially said she was bound for Shenzhen with her husband.

Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco said the victim and the suspect acted suspiciously when asked about their supposed marriage.

Due to this, they were referred to I-PROBES officers.

The officers said the victim was unable to answer basic details about their marriage. She presented a PSA certificate of marriage stating that they were married in a restaurant.

The BI inspected the document and confirmed it to be genuine.

However, the victim later admitted that there was no wedding and that their certificate was processed by her Chinese escort, which she paid P45,000 for.

“This is obviously another case of the mail order bride scheme that has resurfaced recently. In this scheme, victims are made to pretend to be the spouse of a foreign national, but they end up as pseudo wives doing domestic work in their destination,” he said in a statement.

The BI said the victim and the escort were turned over to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking for further investigation and filing of appropriate cases.

For their part, Justice spokesperson Mico Clavano said this was a case of falsification of documents. He said Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla had ordered the National Bureau of Investigation to look into the incident.

“Hindi po kasi biro yung falsification nung public documents. Kasi yung public document kapag makita mo yan dapat yung taong makakita niyan maniniwala agad dahil authentic at valid yung dokumento,” he said in a separate ambush interview.

(Falsification of public documents is not a joke. A public document should be viewed as authentic and valid.)

“Kapag masyado nang rampant po yung pag pepeke nung public documents na ito, magkakaroon na ng mistrust, no, doon sa ating mga ahensya na nag i-issue ng mga valid documents na ito,” he added.

(Once these kinds of schemes become rampant, it will create mistrust in the agencies issuing these valid documents.) — DVM, GMA Integrated News