Paocc, other agencies to ramp up drive vs bogus PH documents racket

PAOCC Undersecretary Gilbert Cruz (INQUIRER.net file photo / Faith Argosino)

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Anti-Organized Crime Commission (Paocc) will work with various government agencies to identify and sanction employees involved in illegally issuing Philippine documents to foreign nationals.

Paocc Executive Director Gilberto Cruz said Thursday that these fraudulent documents—including birth certificates, passports, driver’s licenses, and Alien Employment Permits (AEPs)—are processed by multiple government agencies, including the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), Bureau of Immigration (BI), Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), Land Transportation Office (LTO), and Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

Cruz explained that Paocc has limited jurisdiction over some of these agencies, making coordination necessary.

“As far as the documents, IDs na inilalabas, like here we have the certification that a citizen na naka-blacklist does not appear na may kaso. Lumalabas kasi ito sa agency na hindi namin sakop, so what we are doing is nagko-coordinate na lang kami,” Cruz explained.

(As far as the documents and IDs being issued, like here we have a certification stating that a blacklisted citizen does not have a case. This is coming from an agency beyond our jurisdiction, so we are coordinating with them.)

“For this, itu-turnover ko na lang kay [BI Spokesperson] Ma’am Dana [Sandoval], ‘yung mga dokumentong nandito, ‘yung sa delisting, sa blacklist, nandito po,” he added.

(For this, I will turn over the documents related to delisting from the blacklist to the BI.)

He also mentioned that specific agencies will handle investigations regarding certain types of documents.

“And as far as the IDs, may mga driver’s license… We will be coordinating with the LTO for the driver’s license. As far as the AEPs, ‘yung Alien Employment Permit, dito po siguro sa DOLE ko-coordinate kami… So iba-ibang agencies,” Cruz explained.

(For driver’s licenses, we will coordinate with the LTO. For AEPs, we will coordinate with DOLE. So different agencies will be involved.)

When asked if a special task force should be formed to handle the investigation, Cruz said it was unnecessary.

Cruz also warned that government employees found guilty of involvement in the illegal issuance of Philippine documents will face charges.