MANILA — From 2016 to 2023, Sta. Cruz, Davao Del Sur issued irregular birth certificates to foreigners, according to the local government unit during the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing on Monday.
The Committee is investigating the unauthorized proliferation and use of Philippine government documents by foreign nationals.
In July, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) revealed that 200 Chinese nationals acquired fake birth certificates from the municipal civil registry of Sta. Cruz.
“We chose birth certificates with foreign national sounding names. And we found out these documents or COLBs kulang po yung attachments (lacked attachments) so we concluded irregularly issued po siya na birth certificates,” said Atty. Ryonell Cabardo, Legal Officer of Sta. Cruz.
“We found out that a certain job order employee po yung nag-facilitate (facilitated the transactions). As early as January 2024 di na namin ni-renew yung contract ng JO (We did not renew the JO’s contract as early as January 2024).”
Cabardo did not name the employee involved.
Of the 1,501 birth certificates, 54 were for children with foreign parents, particularly Chinese.
These documents appeared tampered with, as the same midwife signed all of them, according to Sta. Cruz Mayor Jose Sala Jr.
“Kahit saang barangay doon ipinanganak, iisa ang pangalan ng hilot. Titignan mo yung penmanship, yung nagpirma lahat sa papers iisang tao lang,” Sala said. “Ang problema, si hilot ghost.”
(There was only one midwife for the births in various villages. The penmanship for all the documents was the same… Problem is, the midwife is a ghost midwife.)
Mayor Sala has already suspended the head of the local civil registry.
The NBI has investigated 102 of the 1,501 cases and found that these individuals do not live at the indicated addresses.
“We are looking into the angle that these Chinese nationals are in conspiracy with other public officials or other private individuals,” said Jonathan Balite, NBI Regional Director. “Maybe in two weeks time we will file a case.”
Senator Pia Cayetano, Chair of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, commented that Filipino citizenship appears to be for sale.
“Yes, nabibili po (Yes, it can be bought). It was revealed there are offers of P300,000 to buy government IDs,” Cayetano said. “This is not just a question of legality, it is a question of our integrity, our sovereignty, our national security, and our national identity.”
Mayor Sala confirmed that foreigners pay P100,000 for each Certificate of Live Birth, license, and passport, totaling P300,000.
Officials from various City Civil Registries in Metro Manila, where similar cases were allegedly traced, also attended the hearing.
Lucena Flores from the Caloocan Office compared documents from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) to their records and found discrepancies. Some documents with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) also did not match those Flores had.
PSA Assistant National Statistician Engr. Marizza Grande stated they are investigating social media accounts offering fraudulent services for birth certificates, passports, and other documents.
When asked by Senator Alan Peter Cayetano if a syndicate could be behind the issuance of fake birth certificates, PSA OIC-Deputy National Statistician Clemente Manaog confirmed the possibility.
“It’s not widespread because we have the procedures in place,” Manaog said.
Cayetano suggested two reasons why foreigners obtain fake documents.
“One is your personal convenience or personal benefit. Let’s say hindi ka Pilipino, you are running from your country, you want to live here, wala kang balak i-scam, wala kang balak i-perwisyo, or halimbawa hindi ka nag-a-apply ng passport or birth certificate pero gusto mong mag-drive dito or gusto mong bumili ng lupa, pepekein mo para nga you can stay here. The second is kaya mo pinepeke is really it’s to prepare for scamming people.”
(Let’s say you are not a Filipino, you are running from your country, you want to live here, you don’t have any plans of scamming or inflicting harm, or for example, you applied for a passport or birth certificate but you want to drive or buy land. You will fake the document so you can stay here. The second is you want to fake it to scam people.)
The hearing was suspended and will continue on a future date.