THE Department of Foreign Affairs still cannot identify the official who issued the passports that 117 Indonesians were carrying when they were intercepted on August 19 but they have determined that the travel documents were actually special passports issued to hajj pilgrims.
DFA spokesman Charles Jose said there is an office in the DFA that issues hajj passport, a special passport used only for a hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
“It is still the DFA who issued the hajj passport. We require different documentary requirements compared to the documents needed when issuing a regular passport,” Jose said, adding that the foreign office is looking to review its policy on hajj passports.
“We will be reviewing our policy on issuance of hajj passport after this incident,” Jose said, adding that the DFA will start their own investigation as soon as the Bureua of Immigration finishes its own probe.
Jose said the DFA is waiting for the BI to turnover the passports used by the Indonesians.
“We will conduct our own investigation once the BI turns over the passports of these Indonesians to DFA. Currently, the passports are still in the custody of the Bureau of Immigration. As soon as we get hold of this, we will conduct our own probe,” Jose said.
The Indonesians who were bound for Medina, Saudi Arabia on Friday were stopped by immigration authorities at the Naia when they could not even speak Philippine languages.
The interception of the 177 individuals alerted airport officials to tighten security due to intelligence reports that international terrorists were planning to enter the country through Mindanao and conduct bomb attacks.
The Indonesians who were arrested allegedly paid $6,000 to $10,000 each to join the pilgrimage under a quota the Saudi government reserves for Filipino pilgrims.
“Other nationals who can’t be accommodated in their country’s quota use Philippines’ quota to join the pilgrimage, using spurious documents to acquire Philippine passport,” Jose said.
As soon as they arrested the Indonesians, the immigration chief ordered the immediate filing of immigration charges against them for misrepresenting themselves as Filipinos and for being undesirable aliens.
They are being detained at the bureau’s detention center in suburban Taguig City.
