'Alarming': Adiong seeks House probe on fake birth certificates
At A Glance
- House Assistant Majority Leader Lanao del Sur 1st district Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong wants to get to the bottom of the proliferation of allegedly fictitious and falsified certificates of live birth and passports issued to foreign nationals.
Lanao del Sur 1st district Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong (Facebook)
House Assistant Majority Leader Lanao del Sur 1st district Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong wants to get to the bottom of the proliferation of allegedly fictitious and falsified certificates of live birth and passports issued to foreign nationals.
For this purpose, the Mindanao solon filed on Wednesday, July 17 House Resolution (HR) No. 1802, which directed the House Committees on Local Government and on Justice to conduct a thorough inquiry in aid of legislation on the "alarming" situation.
The resolution comes in the wake of multiple hearings by the House Committee on Public Accounts, which has uncovered instances of land purchases by foreigners using falsified certificates of live birth and passports.
"These documents were obtained through false statements and issued by local civil registrars," read a statement from Adiong.
Adiong said the urgency of this resolution is underscored by several specific instances of fraud. On Nov. 17, 2023, Senate deliberations revealed that 308 maliciously obtained birth certificates used for passport applications.
On July 10, 2024, a Chinese national was arrested for using falsified documents to apply for a Philippine passport. The following day, July 11, 2024, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) reported nearly 200 allegedly fictitious birth certificates issued to mostly Chinese nationals by the civil registry in Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur.
"This alarming trend continued, with the NBI uncovering an additional 1,000 allegedly falsified birth certificates from the same registry on July 16, 2024," the "Young Guns" bloc member said.
Adiong emphasized the importance of the proposed inquiry in maintaining the integrity of the nation’s identification systems and ensuring national security.
"We must take immediate and decisive action to address this issue and prevent further exploitation of our systems," he stated.