Philippine authorities have uncovered hundreds of cases of Chinese nationals who secured local birth certificates. — PSA
THE recent discovery of close to 200 falsified Philippine birth certificates issued to Chinese nationals from 2018 to 2019, all by the civil registry of one town in Davao, is solid, incontrovertible proof of what lawmakers have been warning about since the probe on illegal drugs and crimes perpetrated by unlicensed offshore gaming operators in the country started a few years back. Individuals, or more likely syndicates, are using the country’s late registration of birth to enable unwanted foreigners, most of them Chinese, to obtain valid Philippine passports, driver’s licenses, and other government-issued identification documents.
While the congressional investigations focused on big-time drug personalities and high-profile personalities such as suspended Mayor Alice Guo of Bamban town in Tarlac, it now proves that undesirable foreigners have been getting Philippine identities for various illegal activities on a bigger scale, and for many years now.
