16-5-2024 (MANILA) A Singaporean national has found himself in hot water after being arrested at the Clark International Airport in the Philippines for possessing a tampered passport. The arrest, which took place on May 9, has shed light on the persistent issue of illegal employment schemes targeting foreign workers.
Mohamed Faisal Ahmad Kamal, 45, was apprehended by Philippine immigration authorities after they discovered that pages had been detached from his passport in an apparent attempt to conceal his previous travels to the country.
“Ahmad Kamal was found to have detached pages in his passport in an attempt to hide previous travels to the Philippines,” the Bureau of Immigration stated in a release issued on May 15.
The bureau further revealed that Ahmad Kamal had been on their watchlist, as he was reported to have escorted a Filipino woman out of the Philippines on April 28, allegedly to work in Singapore.
According to local newspaper The Daily Tribune, the woman is believed to have been recruited to work illegally as an “entertainer” in the city-state.
Ahmad Kamal’s arrest coincided with the apprehension of a Chinese national, Xue Gang, 33, who was about to board a flight to Guangzhou from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila. Immigration authorities stated that Xue Gang was on their “derogatory list of foreigners who are wanted for involvement in cyber-fraud activities.”
Both individuals are currently being held at a detention facility in metropolitan Manila while their respective cases are processed.
Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco, as quoted by The Daily Tribune, stated that the two foreign nationals would be deported and barred from re-entering the Philippines.
This incident comes on the heels of a recent crackdown by Philippine authorities on illegal employment schemes targeting Filipino workers. In December 2022, the immigration bureau prevented three Filipino women from boarding a flight to Singapore after investigations revealed that they had planned to travel as tourists but were actually being recruited for “hotel jobs” through an illicit Facebook group.
