BACOLOD CITY – Mayor Albee Benitez has directed the City Legal Office (CLO) to conduct a thorough investigation on the alleged collection of sensitive information from the identification cards of several residents here.
BENITEZ (FB)
According to Police Capt. Francis Depasucat, Bacolod City police Station 4 head, they received a report pertaining to the incident on July 1.
Upon verification, they were able to talk to a 29-year-old alleged Chinese national who was identified to be the person reportedly taking a photo of driver’s licenses or IDs of several residents in Barangay Estefania in exchange for snacks or money from P100 to P400.
Depasucat said the Chinese national claimed to have been staying in this city for years now with textile and e-wallet businesses.
He said the woman did not specifically tell the police the reason of her action and because there was no complainant, they could not file a case or any complaint against her.
Depasucat said that residents gave consent to the woman to collect their information, thus, no intimidation happened.
He, however, stressed that this can be considered alarming because the information in the IDs could be used for illegal transactions.
Benitez expressed concern about the incident as the collection of information from the IDs might be used for identity theft or money laundering.
“We will take this as an interesting case. We will not take this lightly,” Benitez said in the radio program “Isugid Kay Mayor.”
Benitez ordered the CLO to dig deeper and stressed the need to conduct a proper investigation to determine the intention or purpose of such action.
He said that he is eyeing to create a team to probe this further to prevent any irregularities or possible criminal acts.
The mayor advised the public to be cautious. “We should be careful in giving these information because it might be used for ill purposes,” he said.
Police said that they are open to investigating complaints about it.