That is absolutely not true.Passive Perception use is, by definition, not an action taken by the player.
SRD:
Passive Checks
A passive check is a special kind of ability check that doesn't involve any die rolls. Such a check can represent the average result for a task done repeatedly, such as searching for secret doors over and over again, or can be used when the GM wants to secretly determine whether the characters succeed at something without rolling dice, such as noticing a hidden monster.I mean, we had a massive thread on this a few months ago, but in the context of the rules, "passive" DOES NOT indicate the PC isn't doing anything.