Senators raise alarm over foreigners' use of legit gov't IDs

Government employees process their biometric information including fingerprint, iris scan, and photograph as they register for the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) at the Universidad De Manila on May 24, 2021. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News/File

MANILA -- Two senators raised the alarm over the rising number of foreigners using either legitimate government identification cards or impersonating certain individuals with valid documents.

During Wednesday’s Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing which she chaired, Senator Pia Cayetano cited as an example the case of a Vietnamese national who reportedly used an illegally obtained passport, which upon checking, was found to be a legitimate Philippine passport.

Another case involved a certain "Jane" who was supposed to be a first time traveler to Saudi Arabia last January but was barred from traveling, because Immigration documents showed that she already traveled in 2015 and 2019 and had not returned to the Philippines.

“According to Ms Jane, yun nga, it was her first time to depart the country as an OFW... So doon pa lang, kahit yung totoo niya na siya na yung totoong tao, na-change pa to make it appear daw that she was compliant with employment age requirements,” Cayetano said.

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian also cited a number of cases that they uncovered in a Senate Committee on Women hearing last year, where legitimate government IDs were confiscated in recently raided POGOs (Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators), bearing faces of foreign-looking individuals.

Some of these cards, Gatchalian said, are Tax Identification cards, PhilHealth, Certificates of Alien Registration, DOLE IDs, Bureau of Immigration IDs and PNP IDs issued in Pasay City.

“Some of these IDs require personal appearance in order for different government agencies to issue the cards. But apparently, these cards were not issued to the person who applied for it, nor a personal appearance was required,” Gatchalian pointed out.

“Apparently, they contracted a third party company to apply on their behalf,” he added.

In the same hearing, Clemente Manaog of the PSA Planning and Management Service said sources of birth certificates can either emanate from the local civil registry or the PSA.

Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa then asked the PSA: “Papano nagkakaroon ng ganung falsified document?”

(How did that happen that there’s a falsified document entering the PSA system?)

Foreigners are not allowed to get birth certificates, especially from the PSA, Manaog said.

“We (PSA) do not register Civil Registrar documents. We rely on the submissions of Civil Registrars... As far as PSA no. PSA is a repository agency,” Manaoog explained.

PSA’s National Statistician Marizza Grande meanwhile explained that one case involved the illegal use of registration number, but the details or information entered were different.

Before ending the hearing, Cayetano directed the appropriate agencies to provide more information about the issue in the next hearing. 

“I think ang mahalagang mensahe natin eh hindi dapat nabibili ang pagka Pilipino. Pero sa nakikita natin, nabibili siya. Nabibili siya sa pamamagitan ng sindikato. Kami po, doon lang sa konting kwentuhan, parang conclusion natin is mukha namang may sindikato dahil may mga lugar na doon maraming nagre-register ng late birth, yung adult na sila, may edad na sila, saka pa lang sila magpapa-register,” Cayetano said.

(I think the important message here is that Filipino citizenship should never be bought. But what we are saying in reality is, it can be bought by a syndicate. In our conversation, it seems like the conclusion is like there’s a syndicate because there are areas with late registration, the adults, they only register when they are already of legal age)

Next to security is the likelihood that foreigners holding legitimate Philippine government IDs may also soon own lands that only full-blooded Filipinos can enjoy.

It is a possible problem that this early must be immediately clipped, Cayetano stressed.

“Tapos hindi naman sa biased, pero tinanong ng ating mga kasamahan, ano ba yung mga nationality nun, karamihan lumabas na Chinese. And then ang isa nating kasamahan marami nang investigations sa mga POGO. So it was brought up na ang foreigner, hindi siya makakabili ng lupa pero kung may hawak ka nang Philippine birth certificate and passport, then makakabili ka na ng lupa,” Cayetano said.

(It’s not being biased but asked by our colleagues what the nationality is, majority are Chinese. And one of our colleagues who investigated POGO, was discovered to have been bought by a foreigner. He cannot buy land but that person holds a Philippine birth certificate and a passport, which means that you can already buy land.)

“Paano kung gumising na lang tayo isang araw eh hawak na nitong mga Pilipino daw sila, hawak na nila ang lupa. And we all know, especially those who have been in the LGUs, once na naumpisahan yung land problems, that’s another problem that cannot be solved in one generation. It cannot. So paano na tayo?” Cayetano pointed out.

(What if one day we wake up with them saying that they are Filipino and they own the land. And we all know, especially those who have been in the LGUs, once the land problem starts, that’s another problem that cannot be solved in one generation. So, what will happen to us?)