P300,000 FOR BIRTH CERT, PASSPORT, DRIVERS LICENSE SOLD TO CHINESE NATIONALS

Most foreigners that are availing the package for fake documents in the Philippines are Chinese nationals (Photo courtesy of GMA News)

The sale of fake Philippine birth certificates and other important documents has costs P300,000 according to Senator Sherwin Gatchalian. Based on Gatchalian's informant, 3-in-1 can be purchased for P300,000 including the passport and driver's license and the ordered birth certificate.

It is said that only Chinese nationals often buy fake papers. According to Gatchalian, the personnel of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) and local civil registries are the accomplices of the syndicates.

“I talked with members of the Chinese community. They told me that running price to obtain a birth certificate, together with a passport and a driver’s license costs P300,000. There are those who fix this. You give P300,000 and they will give you a birth certificate, passport, driver’s license and more. They will process all of these,” Gatchalian stated.

“Once there is a birth certificate, it is easy to get the rest. That is what I heard from the Chinese community that is going around after we got wind of this. The issue is now out. So apparently, there is really modus for those who wish to get a fake birth certificate,” he added.

From 2018 to 2019, 200 Chinese national secure certificates of live birth from the civil registry of Santa Cruz, Davao del Sur province use for modus operandi after the National Bureau of Investigation uncovered a scheme.

In Lanao provinces in Mindanao, there are similar cases according to Gatchalian, where more than 1,700 local government units were involved. “Imagine how many civil registry offices you can approach to get a birth certificate.”

Gatchalian stated that they are urging the PSA to think about this and provide solutions. These problems started with the birth certificates being issued by the PSA. He added that one of the proposals was to give them administrative power over the local civil registry. That’s one of the reforms they’re looking at.

Senator Risa Hontiveros said that the Senate will not allow them to completely destroy the system. That’s why it is need to implement reforms in every department and attached agency in the government.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer

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