PSA warns vs unscrupulous individuals offering to change status on civil registry documents

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) urged the public to be wary of individuals or groups claiming they can change the civil status on official documents without going through legal proceedings.
“It has come to our attention that unauthorized entities and individuals are advertising or offering services purportedly for the dissolution of marriages without the need of a judicial proceeding by unlawfully changing the civil status of persons in their civil registry documents,” PSA Undersecretary Dennis Mapa said in a statement on Tuesday, April 26.
“All government and non-government institutions and the general public especially those who patronize, assist, or use such services are strongly warned that such activities are illegal and criminal,” Mapa, who is also the National Statistician and Civil Registrar General, said.
He stressed that the PSA will immediately prosecute, to the fullest extent of the law not only those who are perpetrators of the said illegal act but also those who patronize such services or use such fraudulent documents in whatever manner.
The general public is also advised that any document processed through these illegal and criminal activities will be invalidated by the end-user agencies or interested entities once its authenticity is verified with the PSA.