THE Bureau of Immigration (BI) yesterday asked the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to provide the names and other relevant information of the 200 Chinese nationals who were able to obtain falsified birth certificates from a civil registrar office in Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur.
Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco said his office had also requested information from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) regarding all Filipinos who availed of the late registration scheme and were subsequently issued birth certificates.
“This data will be cross-checked to verify if these individuals were issued or have used Philippine passports,” Tansingco said in a statement on the agency’s request for information and details from the NBI and PSA.
“We must be proactive and thorough in our approach to prevent the misuse of Philippine documents by foreign nationals. This is an issue of national security and needs to be addressed immediately,” he said.
This as the BI chief said the agency has “intercepted another four cases of fraudulently acquired Philippine citizenship in the past week.”
Last week, the NBI regional office in Davao City said it had uncovered close to 200 falsified birth certificates issued to Chinese nationals from 2018 to 2019 in Sta.Cruz, Davao del Sur.
The discovery came after a Chinese national was apprehended for presenting a spurious birth certificate he was able to obtain while applying for a Philippine passport with the local office of the Department of Foreign Affairs.
The 21-year old Chinese national claimed he was born in Sta.Cruz town.
Tansingco said they have actually raised the concern on the use of fraudulently acquired Philippine documents by foreigners as early as last year after immigration officers intercepted at least 10 cases of foreigners misrepresenting themselves as Filipinos by using fraudulently acquired Philippine documents.
“Once they present themselves as a Filipino, they [are] already removed from the purview of the BI which monitors foreigners. Apart from this, they are able to present layers and layers of Philippine documents, all original, pushing for their claim,” Tansingco said.
He said foreigners are able to acquire numerous Philippine documents after illegally acquiring foundational documents such as birth certificates, which he warned can be abused by foreigners involved in terrorism, heinous crimes, or fraud.
Worse, he also said, these foreigners may end up being able to vote, or assimilate themselves in society while conducting their illegal activities.
