“No wonder these people take us for granted because they believe there is nothing impossible here so long as one has the money to pay”
Those foreigners identified as Chinese nationals being able to obtain genuine birth certificates and National IDs from the Philippine Statistics Authority as a basis of obtaining Philippine Passports is not only disturbing but also dangerous.
This is not only because of the corruption issue involved but the damage it has done to the country’s national security interests.
What is so shocking is how easy they did it and their apparent familiarity with the inner workings of our government bureaucracy.
That should be food for thought for our national security officials.
While our Navy and Coast Guard personnel are braving the might of the Chinese Navy, Coast Guard and militia ships in the WPS, corrupt civilian government officials are quietly doing incalculable damage to their country due to their unbridled greed.
I sometimes wonder why we even bother to fight for Ayungin Shoals if those we are trying to prevent from encroaching on our territory are already here wreaking havoc with the help of corrupt government officials.
Is there really no limit to what corrupt government officials are willing to do?
Because of its national security implications, there is a need to dig deeper to find out whether the foreign nationals involved did it on their own or were part of an orchestrated penetration effort on our government institutions.
The sad part of this sordid episode is it is not really an isolated case.
There are many foreign nationals among us with American and Filipino first names with proper legal documentations but could hardly speak a word of English or Pilipino.
Remember the pastillas scam?
And now fake companies for free entry into the country.
No wonder these people take us for granted because they believe there is nothing impossible here so long as one has the money to pay.
At the very least the PSA and DFA should immediately cancel the validity of all the documents issued to these foreign nationals and make the list public.
But up to now, there is deafening silence from both agencies.
Why? We know nothing of any action being undertaken by both agencies. We are only getting news from the NSC and the Senate.
Yes, the Office of the Ombudsman was reported to have opened an investigation of possible violation of anti-graft laws.
The Senate will also open a hearing on how these foreigners were able to acquire Philippine Passports for P500,000 each.
What is more important, however, is what action the intelligence and national security officials will do so these two incidents will never happen again?
It is very important that the security of our national identification system be guaranteed, otherwise the integrity of all national IDs are questionable.
Because of the involvement of foreigners working with the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations, we must also ask PAGCOR why it continues to allow POGO operation considering only about P4b in taxes are being collected.
Is this miniscule amount all worth the damage being done to the country?
Is prostitution, human trafficking, kidnapping and financial scams not enough damage that we have to add more?
There must be hidden reasons why PAGCOR is bent on allowing the POGOs to continue operating.
At one time, even the Chinese Embassy suggested the closure of these POGOs because the Embassy realized that since POGO is essentially a gambling operation, crime is often not far away.
This is why there have been reports of people being scammed in China and Chinese criminal syndicates operating here are kidnapping fellow Chinese nationals.
Yet, the POGOs continue to operate.
From petty corruption cases, we have now graduated to providing genuine birth certificates, national IDs and Philippine passports.
We have to wonder what more could be out there waiting to be exposed.
What was surprising was that the PSA which has a fairly solid reputation even at the Municipal and City levels and perhaps not expected to easily go rogue is now also severely tainted.
If that is the case, we are in for a lot of trouble if nothing is immediately done to right the situation.