A total of 31 Indians were held for questioning in Davao City by the Bureau of Immigration (BI) during a crackdown on illegal aliens in the southern Philippines.
BI commissioner Ricardo David on Friday said the BI-Davao field office rounded up and investigated the 31 Indians last Sept. 19, after months of intensive surveillance on their activities.
David said the foreigners found violating the Philippine Immigration Act would undergo deportation proceedings, adding that most of the 31 Indians were either undocumented or having fraudulent visas.
"Some of them managed to acquire resident visas by submitting falsified documents in support of their visa application," David said.
On the other hand, BI intelligence chief Maria Antonette Bucasas-Mangrobang said the crackdown was an offshoot of various intelligence reports of the increasing number of Indians arriving and staying in Davao City.
Mangrobang said the 31 Indians who were held for questioning include 12 who were charged for being undocumented aliens and 19 who were ordered to appear before the bureau for further investigation after they presented their travel documents.
According to her, the visas of the Indians will be canceled by the BI board of commissioners if these documents will be proven fraudulent. — B.L. Vergara/LBG
