‘Hiram na mukha’: BI intercepts passenger who used an assumed identity

PASAY City—The Bureau of Immigration (BI) reported the interception of a 35-year-old woman from Sulu who attempted to depart the country using what appears to be a “shared identity,” a form of identity theft that the agency says remains a recurring issue among aspiring overseas workers from far-flung provinces.

The female passenger was barred from leaving the country last November 24, at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 while attempting to board an AirAsia flight to Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia. She was turned over to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) by BI officers after several inconsistencies were uncovered during inspection.

During initial processing, the passenger informed officers that she was unable to write and had to be assisted in completing her travel form. She claimed that she is bound for Malaysia to marry her partner, a Malaysian national.

However, officers immediately noticed a suspicious 2020 Philippine departure stamp on her passport. Upon verification, the stamp was determined to be counterfeit.

Further verification showed that the passenger’s alleged travel history did not match official records. She also admitted to having left the country through an illegal migration corridor or “backdoor” route in 2019. Although her passport and birth certificate were genuine, the facial image on her passport did not match the biometric record stored in the BI’s system, and previous travel entries under her name bore a different image as well.

Authorities say these findings strongly indicate that she was using an assumed or “shared” identity, a scheme in which individuals borrow or interchange documents with relatives—often believing that resemblance or family ties will help them bypass formal travel requirements. The BI noted that this is not the first case of its kind, and warned that identity sharing constitutes identity theft with serious legal consequences.

“This is not the first time we have seen ‘shared identity’ cases,” BI Commissioner Joel Anthony Viado said. “Some individuals, especially from remote areas, mistakenly believe they can share passports or personal documents with relatives to facilitate travel. What they do not realize is that this is identity theft, a serious offense that can lead to criminal charges, and possible long-term harm to the real document owner.”

Viado stressed that the BI’s modernized systems make identity manipulation easier to detect, and urged the public to stop participating in practices involving shared documents or borrowed identities.

“Using someone else’s identity, or allowing others to use yours, puts you and your family at risk. Our officers are trained and equipped to detect impostors, and we will continue to stop individuals attempting to travel under fraudulent circumstances,” Viado added.