DFA logo and building facade. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — The passport applications of over 170 “questionable” foreign nationals, most of whom had delayed birth registrations, have been denied by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
This was revealed by a DFA official during a Senate subcommittee on finance hearing Thursday on the agency’s proposed budget of P27.4 billion.
“Since November last year, we were able to prevent the application of questionable nationalities applying for a Philippine passport: more than 171 attempts were prevented from the Office of the Consular Affairs,” DFA Assistant Secretary Adelio Cruz told panel chairperson Sen. Loren Legarda, who inquired about passport applicants who can’t speak Filipino and other local languages.
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Of the 171 cases, Cruz said 71 were submitted to the National Bureau of Investigation.
“Most were first time, all with delayed registration of births,” Cruz said when asked by Legarda about if the applicants applied for the first time.
Cruz said some of the foreigners have valid birth certificates, but some are “obviously fraudulent.”
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“What we do to ensure that this does not happen again is, if it is a questionable application, we get the biometrics of that person, flag it all over the country to avoid their forum shopping, and attempt to apply to other offices,” he said.
Cruz also said the DFA has canceled the passports already issued to 66 “foreign nationals.”
“With the approval of the secretary, we canceled 66 passports already fraudulently issued to Chinese—” Cruz said, quickly correcting himself— “foreign nationals.”