Senate to continue to probe issuance of fake gov’t documents

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee will continue to investigate the issuance and usage of fake gov’t documents especially by foreign nationals.

Senator Pia Cayetano, chairperson of the Senate blue ribbon committee, told reporters in Cebu on Wednesday that the senate will have another hearing about the matter next week Monday.

“Obviously, yung mga lumalabas sa news the past few months na rin, talagang nakakatakot na there are really fake government identification documents, yung birth certificate, yung passports. So we will have continuing hearings about this to get to the bottom of it. Kasi may mga areas na parang sila yung hotspots,” Cayetano said.

In the hearing, she said she wanted for the committee to identify how it happened and check who are the persons responsible for the issuance of fake gov’t documents.

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With the Senate’s investigation, Cayetano clarified that the “Senate is not an enforcement agency.”

The senator said the Senate, the Blue Ribbon in particular, can investigate in aid of legislation so they could see what is the problem at hand.

“And then, in particular, the Blue Ribbon looks into yung mga pagkukulang, not just pagkukulang, pero yung failure to act, yung paggawa talaga ng katiwalian ng mga government agencies particularly. So we make those recommendations kung meron kailangan talagang masisante or mabigyan ng punishment sa kanilang trabaho,” she added.

Last July 11, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said it had uncovered “close to 200 falsified birth certificates” issued to Chinese nationals from 2018 to 2019, all by the civil registry of Sta. Cruz town in Davao del Sur.

The NBI Davao regional office revealed this when they arrested a Chinese national who presented a spurious birth certificate he obtained in 2013.

The regional director of NBI Davao said he believed there are still more cases like this that the bureau is yet to discover.

In 2023, they also arrested another Chinese national for the same offense and his case is now pending in court.

According to NBI Davao Director Archie Albao, most of the falsified birth certificates discovered were for Chinese nationals who turned out to be based in Luzon.

With this, several lawmakers from the House of Representatives said they want the NBI to probe the issuance of fake gov’t documents.

Last March 13, the Senate blue ribbon committee also investigated the unauthorized proliferation and use of government documents by foreign nationals which prompted Cayetano to ask if the Philippine citizenship was for sale.

Cayetano was here in Cebu on Wednesday, July 31, for a couple of engagements which include the National Cacao Congress 2024 in a hotel in Cebu City and giving out financial aid through the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (DSWD AICS) in Minglanilla. | with reports from the Philippine Daily Inquirer; Charie Abarca, Faith Argosino of Inquirer.net