By Ferdinand Patinio
MANILA – Authorities arrested in Tawi-Tawi on Friday two Chinese nationals who are on an immigration blacklist as they were attempting to use an illegal migration corridor to Sabah, Malaysia.
Bureau of Immigration (BI) Commissioner Joel Anthony Viado, in a statement on Saturday, identified the foreigners as Li Yu, 27, and Liu Fei, 35, who were accosted by personnel of the Maritime Police Station of Tawi-Tawi.
He said the two, who identified themselves using their passports and claimed they were from Parañaque City, were found on board a ship that arrived from Zamboanga City.
They were found by a team from the Maritime Police who were conducting regular foot patrols along the waters of Poblacion in Bongao, Tawi-Tawi, together with the 1st Special Operations Unit of the Philippine National Police (PNP) Criminal Investigation Detection Group Provincial Field Unit, Marine Battalion Landing Team 4, and 2nd MCIC and Municipal Inter-Agency Committee Against Trafficking (MIACAT) Bongao.
BI operatives confirmed that the duo’s names appear on the BI’s blacklist after they were tagged in 2023 as undocumented and undesirable aliens for working for an establishment involved in prostitution and labor exploitation.
Both have also been identified by the Chinese government as fugitives facing financial fraud cases in China.
They will be transferred to a BI facility in Taguig City, where they will remain until their deportation.
Viado said the arrest is in line with President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s drive to ensure border management and security in the country. (PNA)
