SEN. Alan Peter Cayetano yesterday underscored the need for the creation of a specialized unit or office to prevent the proliferation and use of fake government documents by foreigners engaged in illegal activities.
Cayetano made the remark as the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee conducted its hearing on the use of government documents which were faked by unscrupulous individuals and sold to foreigners.
He said the widespread counterfeiting of government-issued documents weaken the reliability of the country’s identification system, even as he stressed that law enforcement agencies should be able to stop this.
“There are so many nationalities that fake our documents just so they can obtain Philippine passports but those who helped produce fake passports are not prosecuted… Others directly make fake passports, others use fake documents so they can get real passports…
Both are alarming as the other because the international community will not trust the Philippine passport,” Cayetano said as he cited an instance when Indonesian citizens were arrested while carrying Philippine passports so they can join a Hajj pilgrimage.
He called on the PNP, National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to intensify their efforts in running after and prosecuting violators, as he assured that the Senate will give its full support to these agencies in stopping the problem.
“I want to help you to find solutions. We have to equip you, but you need to tell us kung ano ang kailangan (what you need),” he said.
Sen. Pia Cayetano, Blue Ribbon Committee chairperson, said strict measures are needed to prevent the unauthorized use of government documents such as birth certificates, passports, and taxpayers’ identification numbers.
It was learned during the hearing that thousands of security papers used by the PSA were either lost or stolen.
Based on data provided by the PSA, the top local civil registers that issued the most number of fake birth certificates were those in Manila, Caloocan, Quezon City, Pasay City, and Pasig City as of March this year.
Sen. Pia Cayetano said the PSA report is “very concerning as it highlights the vulnerability of our Civil Registration system.”
“A birth certificate is not just a document. This serves as a proof of our identity as a Filipino and the source of our rights… The birth certificate is really one of the main proofs of identification when applying for other government identifications for school, for employment, marriage license, voter’s registration, and even certificates of candidacy,” she said.
She also said that the proliferation of fake birth certificates puts into question government-issued documents.
“Foreigners, mostly Chinese nationals, who fraudulently acquired their Filipino citizenship, would effectively pose a threat to national security,” she said, citing the case of suspended Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo whom the NBI said was also Guo Hua Ping, a Chinese national, who abused the country’s late birth registration system.
Ryonell Carabardo, legal officer of the municipality of Sta. Cruz in Davao del Sur, said that of the 1,501 certificates of live birth (COLB) irregularly issued by the local Civil Registrar to mostly Chinese citizens, 54 of them have no listed Filipino parents.
Carabardo said their investigation focused on COLBs with foreign-sounding names.
Sta. Cruz Mayor Jose Nelson Sala said he has ordered the creation of an ad hoc committee to investigate the rampant issuance of COLBs to foreigners in their municipality.
He said among the issues the committee will focus on is the appearance of the name of one “hilot” or midwife that appeared in the COLBs of different individuals.
Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, for his part, said fake baptismal certificates of Guo’s siblings Seimen and Wesley.
According to the documents, copies of which Gatchalian obtained, Wesley Guo was baptized at the Parokya ng San Roque in Caloocan City on February 14, 1990, while Seimen was baptized in the same church on December 24, 1990.
The baptismal certificates also listed Angelito Guo and Amelia Leal as their parents who were married through civil wedding.
Their baptisms were allegedly officiated by one “Very Rev. Msgr. Boanerges Lechuga,” said to be the parish priest.
The San Roque Cathedral Parish, in a letter to Gatchalian dated June 6, 2024, said it has no baptismal records of the Guo brothers.
“Please be informed that we did not find any baptismal records of the said individuals (Seimen L. Guo and Wesley L. Guo). We hope that this information would be useful for your inquiry with respect to Senate Resolution no. 977,” said the church in a certification signed by Rev. Fr. Leo Pepito, the parochial vicar.
