The Philippines is set to deport a Chinese national who was caught with a fake Philippine passport before boarding his flight to Maldives via private jet.

BI Commissioner Jaime Morente said the Chinese man, who initially presented himself as Mark Anthony Cobeng, 33, was intercepted on Tuesday before boarding his flight.

He said immigration officer Lourdes Mercado initially noticed discrepancies in the biopage of the Chinese national's Philippine passport, which appeared to be counterfeit. This prompted the immigration officer to start interviewing the man.

"That is when they noticed that the passenger did not even know how to speak basic Filipino words," he said.

Immigration sources said the identity on the Chinese man's Philippine passport belonged to a 7-year-old boy born last 2014, based on the Philippine Statistics Authority database.

The passport photo was also replaced with the photo of the intercepted national, according to the immigration anti-fraud unit. It had a tampered date of birth and extended passport validity of 10 years instead of only 3-5 years given to minors by the Department of Foreign Affairs.

The BI commissioner said the foreigner was in the company of another Chinese national who voluntarily deferred his flight.

The Manila Control Tower of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines confirmed that the Airbus Elite ACJ private jet with tail registration 9H-UE and flight number MLM 318 departed around 12:17 p.m. of March 29, minus the two passengers.

Port operations chief Atty. Carlos Capulong also revealed that some tension arose when the Chinese man refused immigration inspection.

"The foreigner was already causing a commotion. We thank the Airport Police Department (APD) and our bureau's Border Control and Intelligence Unit (BCIU) for the assistance in controlling the situation," Capulong said.

The Chinese national, who has been detained at the immigration detention center in Bicutan since Tuesday, is facing charges of falsification of public documents. Morente said the man was turned over to the BI's Legal Division for deportation proceedings.

Atty. Jan Paulo Dino, the Chinese national's lawyer, meanwhile told ABS-CBN: "Considering that legal proceedings are already underway, we cannot make any further comments on this issue. We, however, thank you for the opportunity you are extending to us to give our response."

Immigration investigators are coordinating with the Chinese Embassy to assist in identifying the Chinese national. The DFA is also investigating how the Chinese national got a Philippine passport.

The BI chief warned foreigners not to deceive BI employees by submitting fake or tampered passports.

"The Philippine passport contains a number of overt security features that our officers are trained to examine," Morente said.

"Apart from our officers' expertise in fraud detection, we are also have a forensic documents laboratory that can analyze the authenticity of passports presented," he added. - Raoul Esperas