PHL officials in UAE probe fake travel document row


Philippine officials in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are investigating claims by an overseas Filipino worker (OFW) group that a travel document is being sold at high prices.

Ambassador Grace Princesa said she has also put mechanisms in place to check the authenticity of the documents in question, UAE news site Khaleej Times reported Sunday.

She said she will particularly check the authenticity of several Affidavit of Support (AoS) documents, which are at the center of claims by Migrante International UAE.

But this early, Princesa denied claims that embassy staff have been accepting bribes for blank AoS documents.

AoS documents are required by the Philippine Bureau of Immigration (BI) to bring their families to their host countries.

The Khaleej Times report said Migrante had claimed an Aos is sold at Dh300, with Dh100 as payment to the embassy and Dh150 going to the fixer and Dh50 to a supposed middleman.

Princesa said a team will be formed in coordination with the Filipino embassy in Tehran to look into Migrante's claims that thousands of Filipinos are in Kish Island on a visa run.

The Philippine Embassy in Tehran has consular jurisdiction over Kish Island.

Princesa also said the embassy has a list of those who had been issued affidavits at the Philippine Embassy in Abu Dhabi. She said the AoS documents presented by Migrante could be checked against this list.

In the meantime, Princesa urged Filipinos who obtained their AoS from travel agencies at a hefty price to come forward and execute sworn statements. — KBK, GMA News

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