A certain someone (relative) is currently in possession of my expired passport (10 yrs expired), and does not want to return it to me because we are not on good terms. I need it badly so that I can renew my passport this year. Some people just advised me to flag it as missing but the process is so much hassle and it's not really missing, she just does not want to give it to me.
My question is can that someone be liable to any violation under PH law for holding and keeping a passport that is not in her name? I just need some sort of leverage to demand the return of my passport with more authority, aside from the fact that it's my name in it. I am currently reading the PH Passport act of 1996 as reference. I have read there in section 11 Ownership of Passport, that it is a property of the goverment and that "the holder being a mere possessor thereof as long as it is valid and the same may not be surrendered to any person or entity other than the government or its representative". I don't really know if I could use this. I am also referring to section 19 Offenses and penalties under offenses relating to improper use, but I'm not really sure if any of those fits my situation.
Then again, I am not a lawyer so I am kindfully asking if you or anyone could help me with this dilemma I have. Any advice would be very much appreciated. Thank you.