PSA found 308 fake birth certificates used for PH passport application in 2023

There are at least 308 fake birth certificates that were used for Philippine passport applications in 2023, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) disclosed on Friday.

The PSA returned to the Senate for the deliberations of their approved 2024 budget, which was recalled by the senators last week over the issue of alleged issuance of Philippine passports to foreign nationals.

“I’m informed that between January and September this year, there were over 26,000 requests from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) for validation of civil registry documents, and as a result of that validation, 308 birth certificates were found to be fake. That’s not limited to Filipinos, but both Filipinos and foreign nationals,” Senator Sonny Angara, who is speaking in behalf of the PSA, said.

The PSA, through Angara, said the birth certificates of six of seven foreigners who were issued with Philippine passports, are fake.

“Fake ho talaga ‘yung datos na galing sa local civil registrar ho, ‘yung datos. There was a fake registration at the local level,” Angara said.

(The data from the local civil registrar were fake.)

According to Angara, only one of the seven foreigners’ birth certificates “was found authentic” and the foreigner used the name of a Filipina who was born in Sta. Cruz, Zambales.

“The registration was done in Zambales of a Filipino citizen. If the citizen [holding the Philippine passport] was a foreigner, it was a case of identity theft,” Angara said.

Angara said the PSA established the need for coordination between agencies to ensure that fraudulent documents will not be used for passport applications.

“Because the DFA on its own would not be able to detect the fraud without the assistance of the PSA. So PSA really has to strengthen its anti-fraud mechanism,” he said.

“So double safety mechanism is…if there is an application with the agency (DFA), they (PSA) will be the one to send the birth certificate. So that is a double or a second guard against fraud,” he added.

Last week, the DFA said that foreign nationals pose as Filipinos through “the presentation of authentic and genuine PSA birth certificate, with valid government-issued ID cards that are accepted for a passport application.”

The National Bureau of Investigation and the APO Production Unit, which is in charge of the printing of passports, both said they are also investigating the issue.

The Office of the Ombudsman said it will likewise study the allegations.

Earlier in the day, the Office of the Solicitor General was encouraged to study the same issue.

Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri and Senator Risa Hontiveros last Monday called on the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) and the National Security Council (NSC) to look into how Philippine passports, official government IDs and documents were allegedly issued to foreigners, saying this may compromise the country’s national security.

On Thursday, Hontiveros said her office is looking into the alleged P500,000 payment for the issuance of Philippine passports to foreign nationals. — BAP/KG, GMA Integrated News