Philippine passports (INQUIRER.NET FILE PHOTO)
MANILA, Philippines — Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri on Monday said the upper chamber is eyeing to craft a law increasing the fines, penalties, and jail terms for officials and employees of government agencies issuing Philippine passports, licenses and other legal documents to foreigners.
“My suggestion is the Senate spearhead a law increasing the fines, penalties, and jail terms for government agencies giving out these legal documents to unscrupulous individuals,” said Zubiri during the Senate plenary debates on the 2024 budget of National Intelligence and Coordinating Agency (NICA) and National Security Council (NSC).
Before raising his suggestion, Zubiri asked the officials of NICA and NSA to closely look into the alleged issuance of Philippine passports and identification cards to foreign nationals.
“There are national security implications to this, gentlemen and ladies, [because] we were shown how easy it is for foreigners to be able to get birth certificates, official Philippine Statistics Authority documents and therefore being able to get real passports as well as real driver’s licenses and national identification cards,” said Zubiri.
He likewise pointed out that some criminal syndicates using legal Philippine documents are now involved in crimes such as, but not limited to, kidnapping for ransom, extortion, and sex trafficking.
“It’s unheard of in other countries,” Zubiri emphasized.
“That’s why I hope that the investigation will be done very quickly after the budget hearings, and we will come up with a law,” he added.
Several senators earlier raised the alarm over the alleged issuance of Philippine passports to Chinese nationals, calling it a national security issue.