DOCUMENT CHECK Policemen manning border control points in Baguio City spend more time in checking travel and identification documents presented by motorists following the discovery of fake COVID-19 test results used by some travelers to enter the summer capital. —NEIL CLARK ONGCHANGCO
BAGUIO CITY, Benguet, Philippines — Twelve people are facing criminal complaints after they presented fake travel documents and COVID-19 test results when they entered this city and Zambales province recently, authorities said on Wednesday.
Six of them belonged to a group of travelers from Metro Manila who went to Baguio to undergo skills assessment for overseas employment on Aug. 7, according to the police.
Health workers discovered that their documents were tampered with when these were reviewed at the Baguio City Convention Center triage facility on Aug. 7.
Investigators said the suspects had told them that they could not afford to pay for the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) or antigen tests so they had their medical documents counterfeited.
They were immediately isolated and subjected to antigen tests but one of them tested positive for COVID-19, prompting officials to require them to undergo RT-PCR tests. The results of their confirmatory tests have yet to be released, police said.The city government said the six had been charged with violation of Republic Act No. 1132, or the Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Health Concern Act.
Beach resort trip
In Zambales, six travelers from Bulacan province were detained in the Subic municipal police station after they presented fake identification documents at a police checkpoint on Aug. 7.
Police Col. Romano Cardiño, Zambales police director, said the group was on board a jeepney that was flagged down at the border control in Barangay Sto. Tomas, Subic.
“When asked for their travel papers, the suspects presented certificates of residency that did not match their identification cards,” he said.
Cardiño said the men told the police that they were on their way to a beach resort in San Felipe town. They had been charged with falsification of public documents and violation of COVID-19 health protocols.
Zambales has recently banned all leisure travels as a precaution against the entry of the more contagious Delta variant of COVID-19.