Local government workers, in particular civil registrars, might have a part on the issuance of Philippine IDs and documents to foreigners, which authorities and lawmakers consider a national security threat.
National Security Council (NSC) spokesperson Jonathan Malaya said Thursday that based on their initial investigation, the scheme starts with the civil registrars taking bribes to produce documents needed to secure a Philippine passport, such as a birth certificate.
“The corrupt public officials issue fake birth certificates that are sent to the PSA (Philippine Statistics Authority). When they already have a record, the foreigners may now request a PSA-certified copy of
a birth certificate which can then lead to a passport which can then lead to many other documents like national ID,” Malaya said in a Palace briefing.
The official described the scheme as a national security threat “because once they are able to get a birth certificate, they will be able to secure a passport, they can also get a national ID.
Effectively, they will like regular Filipino citizens.”
He said most of them are Chinese nationals “who were not born in the Philippines, who do not have any parental or links to Filipinos and who are not entitled to a Philippine document,” he said.
Senators on Monday urged the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency(NICA) and the NSC to look into how official government IDs and documents were allegedly issued to foreigners.
“We assure senators that the NSC, NBI, and PSA will not stop until we eradicate this modus operandi,” Malaya said.
The agency vowed to work with the National Bureau of Investigation andthe PSA on the issue, which also saw foreigners being able to get legal documents from the Bureau of Internal Revenue and Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth).