THREE Chinese nationals were arrested by Bureau of Immigration (BI) personnel at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) for attempting to use Manila as a transit point for gaining illegal entry to Canada.   

This was announced by BI Commissioner Ricardo David Jr. who said the three aliens, identified as Yang Xiaomei, Zhu Xinbin and Shen Fengzhou, were apprehended at the NAIA last February 4 before they could board a Philippine Airlines flight bound for Vancouver.

David likewise announced the designation of Benito Se, a veteran immigration supervisor at the NAIA, as the new acting chief of the bureau’s airport operations division.

The personnel change, he said, was effected as part of the BI’s continuing program to give personnel holding supervisory positions a chance to develop their managerial skills and develop their careers.                                                                                  

David said that according to the immigration officers from the BI’s travel control and enforcement unit (TCEU) who accosted the aliens, the Canadian visas stamped on the passports of the passengers are spurious.

“They were attempting to board a PAL connecting flight to Vancouver, Canada, when they were intercepted by our immigration officers,” he said. 

BI acting intelligence chief Atty. Ma. Antonette Mangrobang said the aliens will be sent back to China pending issuance of exclusion and blacklist orders against them.       

According to Mangrobang, the said aliens attempted to board the PAL flight to Canada just a few hours after they arrived as transit passengers aboard a PAL flight from Hongkong. The three are now detained at the BI jail facility in Bicutan, Taguig.