1,627 birth certificates of foreign nationals were blocked by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) after its investigation found several documents to be spurious, Sen. Grace Poe announced before the Senate on Thursday.
During the Senate’s 29th session, the senator gave an update on the blocked birth certificates. According to Poe, the documents from the said individuals were found to be spurious. The names have also been forwarded to the Bureau of Immigration (BI), the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
“From what I know, out of those numbers, 18 were endorsed to the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) for cancellation. 18 pa lang yung nae-endorse for cancellation, kasama na dito yung kay Guo Hua Ping,” Poe said.
Sen. Risa Hontiveros recalled that the PSA mentioned in the past hearings that Guo’s birth certificate was acquired through late registration. It was also deemed irregular, but the updated term used by the PSA is spurious.
“It’s a start, 1,627 birth certificates blocked because deemed spurious, at 18 pati na yung kay Guo Hua Ping endorsed sa OSG, para sa kanilang cancellation. Para ma-aksyunan na rin ng constitutional body na iyon. Maigi din na shineshare din ang mga ganitong findings at determination ng PSA sa ibang mga ahensiya,” Hontiveros expressed.
Great progress on determining birth certificates’ validity was made possible through Hontiveros’ efforts to focus on POGO investigations, Sen. Poe said. With that, the latter mentioned that those involved in the process of helping foreigners acquire such documents should be held accountable.
Hontiveros also inquired what possible penalties would be given to the said officials for the falsification of documents.
“The names of those government workers were submitted to the Mayor of that town, but alongside it, simultaneously, there is also an investigation by the NBI,” Poe stated.
However, apart from the NBI, Hontiveros pushed that other sectors and agencies should also be involved in the process. The Senate will have a separate hearing with the Department of Justice (DOJ) concerning those who are believed to be involved.
“Itong audit na ginagawa ng PSA, ay mag-silbing best practice, at magandang huwaran sana din sa iba nating mga ahensiya na higpitan talaga yung pag-protekta sa integridad nung mga procedure natin, yung mga naibubunga nitong dapat na mga official; at makatotohanang mga dokumento,” Hontiveros stressed.
