Senator Lacson used fake travel papers, says DFA

Travel Document No. 34258, which Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson supposedly used when he finally returned to the country after a year in hiding, was “fake” and “manufactured,” according to a top official of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

Felipe Cariño, executive director of the DFA’s Office of Consular Affairs (DFA-OCA), on Wednesday told reporters that the original copy of the one-way travel document presented by Lacson when he arrived on March 26 at the Mactan airport in Cebu was still with the agency.

The authentic document bearing the same number as Lacson’s travel document was never released by the DFA-OCA, Cariño clarified.

Thus, the travel document used by Lacson was “fake and manufactured as the number corresponding to that is still intact,” Cariño said.

But Lacson insisted his travel papers were authentic.

“The travel document that I used is still with me. I have no doubt it is authentic. It was issued by a consul assigned to the country where I exited to go back to our country,’’ he said.

According to Cariño, there are two types of travel documents—a sheet of paper for one-way direct travel and a manually-scripted passport-like booklet for emergency transit.

However, both travel documents have none of the security features used in e-passports.

Only about 20 travel documents are released daily by Philippine consular posts abroad, most of which are used for emergency purposes, Cariño added.

Sometime in early April, the DFA disclosed that Travel Document No. 34258 was “still with the Department of Foreign Affairs and has not yet been sent out” to any Philippine embassy or consulate abroad.

DFA Undersecretary for Administration Rafael E. Seguis made the disclosure in a March 31 letter to Justice Secretary Leila B. De Lima.

Seguis cited the DFA’s property division as the source of the information.

Responding to the DOJ’s “inquiries on the matter of the alleged travel document used by Sen. Panfilo Lacson to enter the Philippines on March 26,” Seguis also disclosed the following findings of the foreign office:

“The Philippine consulates in Hong Kong, Macau, Xiamen, and Guangzhou have denied issuing a travel document to Senator Lacson,” and

“The said posts have also reported that Travel Document No. 34258 is not within the series of Philippine Travel Documents issued to them.”

“In this regard, the department hopes this would clarify media reports on the alleged issuance of a travel document (to Lacson) by a Philippine consulate general,” noted Seguis.

Then DFA spokesperson J. Eduardo Malaya, now the Philippine Ambassador to Malaysia, said “let (Seguis’ letter to De Lima) speaks for itself.”

Another DFA official, however, opined Lacson could have used a fake travel document.

The diplomat, who asked not to be named, believes Lacson “owes not just the DFA but the entire nation an explanation for the questionable travel document and passport he supposedly used during his travels.’’

“Senator Miriam Santiago may be right in her assumption that (Lacson) could have used a fake passport or travel documents,” the same source added.

Santiago had said securing a fake passport here no longer comes as a surprise since she stumbled on the irregularity when she was chief of the Bureau of Immigration in the late 1980s.

“We have some of the best forgers in this country. So it’s possible that (Lacson) might have used a false passport,” she added.

On August 21, the DFA announced it had canceled the regular and diplomatic passports of Lacson, following an order from a Manila court and requests made by the Department of Justice.

Lacson has been implicated in the murders of publicist Salvador Dacer and his driver, Emmanuel Corbito in November 2000.