THE Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) has confirmed that several foreigners used fake or tampered birth certificates in their application for Philippine passports.
In an interview with Radyo 630, PSA assistant national statistician Marizza Grande said that the birth certificates have been validated by the agency, in coordination with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
“Of the certificates that they submitted to be validated by the PSA, six are fake or tampered while one is authentic,” Grande said.
Grande clarified that the mandate for registration is with local civil registrar offices nationwide, not the PSA which she said is only the central repository of documents.
“We investigate as the information comes in. We (will) investigate the concerned local civil registrar where they (foreigners) are registered. We are coordinating with the DFA for other information so we can verify in which civil registrar these (foreigners) are registered,” Grande said.
Grande said that there is already a system in place wherein if documents submitted by passport applicants are questionable, these are immediately validated with the PSA.
“As of now, we heard that there are already 12 (individuals with questionable documents), and so we are waiting for the necessary information so that we can investigate and start the validation,” she said.
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has also started looking into how some foreign nationals have been able to obtain Philippine passports and other government-issued IDs, according to Director Medardo de Lemos.
The probe is being spearheaded by the NBI Anti-Fraud and International Operations Division.
“Umuusad naman na ang imbestigasyon ng ating Anti-Fraud Division at ng International Operations Division (The investigation being conducted by the Anti-Fraud Division and the International Operations Division is already ongoing),” De Lemos told reporters in a chance interview on the sidelines of the bureau’s 87th anniversary celebration.
De Lemos said they are also coordinating with other government agencies, such as the DFA, in the investigation.
He disclosed that agents in one of the NBI’s regional office have recently arrested a foreigner trying to get a PSA-issued birth certificate. He declined to provide additional details, saying the probe is ongoing.
Earlier, Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri called for an investigation on how Chinese, Koreans and Thais were able to secure Philippine passports and other government-issued IDs.
Senate Pro Tempore Loren Legarda also said the DFA is now working with law enforcement agencies in pursuing the filing of criminal cases against foreign nationals who own Philippine passports.
Officials have said that foreigners pose as Filipinos by presenting authentic and genuine birth certificate from the PSA, with valid government issued ID cards as supporting documents.
BIR IDS
The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) should impose stricter requirements when issuing taxpayers’ identification numbers (TINs) to ensure that these are not used by Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) involved in illegal activities to legitimize the employment status of their workers.
Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means, likewise said it is time for the BIR to “change those antiquated IDs” and add security features, such as having the picture of the ID owner, as he noted that TIN identification cards bear no photos of the owner, which allow unscrupulous individuals to lend them to others or use them for unlawful purposes.
“Since criminal syndicates are able to obtain government IDs such as TIN IDs, foreign nationals supposedly working for POGOs but are actually involved in organized crimes are able to stay in the country and work for various POGOs fronting for criminal syndicates,” Gatchalian told a hearing conducted by the Committee on Women on Friday last week after Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) Undersecretary Gilbert Cruz said that they have verified that the TIN IDs found by a raiding team in a POGO hub in Pasay City were legitimate and included in the BIR database.
Aside from TIN IDs, the raiding team also recovered Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) IDs, Certificates of Alien Registrations, Alien Employment Permits, and police clearances at Smart Web Technology, an establishment with a license issued by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.
Gatchalian said the discovery of the BIR-issued IDs underscored the critical need to revisit the processes for the issuance of identification cards and the incorporation of security measures and comprehensive identification features in the cards.
Gatchalian has been advocating for the expulsion of the POGO industry from the country amid the proliferation of various crimes attributed to the industry.
“The Philippines is now a favorite playground of organized criminal syndicates and the POGOs have become the avenue for these syndicates to continue operating here,” Gatchalian said.
The recovery of government-issued IDs in the Pasay City POGO hub has prompted Sen. Imee Marcos to push for a thorough investigation on how foreign workers were able to obtain these IDs.
She said those involved in the issuance of such IDs should be held liable and punished. — With Ashzel Hachero and Raymond Africa
