Fadley Faisal
A 53-year-old Filipina who overstayed in the country for almost 10 years was sentenced to seven months’ jail by the Magistrate’s Court yesterday.
Immigration prosecutor Adi Yusra bin Haji Adanan informed Senior Magistrate Pengiran Hazirah binti Pengiran Haji Mohd Yusof that Mary Ann Delos Varona went to the Philippines’ Embassy in 2021 to inquire about her passport.
The embassy referred the defendant’s case to the Immigration enforcement on finding out that her social visit pass had expired.
Immigration enforcement discovered that the defendant first arrived in Brunei on February 5, 2012, given a social pass valid for two weeks, without any extensions.
Investigations also revealed that the defendant had given her passport to an individual to have her pass extended. However she had not heard from the individual and never saw her passport again.
She told investigators she had been working as a freelance maid, and earns BND25 for a day’s work.
