Probe on 'proliferation' of fake birth certificates, late registration sought in Senate

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian is seeking an investigation into what he said is an "alarming" proliferation of fake birth certificates and late registration of birth in the country. 

"Syndicates may be behind the proliferation of fake birth certificates, as well as the apparent abuse of the late birth registration system, which allows unscrupulous persons and foreign nationals to secure government-issued IDs, evade existing immigration laws, as well as perpetrate illicit activities including money laundering and human trafficking," Gatchalian wrote in the measure.

The proposed Senate Resolution 1053 was also filed in light of the controversy hounding the identity of suspended Bamban, Mayor Alice Guo.

Gatchalian said that the Philippine Statstics Authority (PSA) confirmed that they have found "several discrepancies" in her birth certificate, particularly the absence of government records proving the existence of Amelia Leal-- the named mother of the embattled mayor-- and the purported marriage between Amelia and her father, Angelito Guo.

According to the PSA, Amelia Leal does not have any birth, marriage, or death certificate.

"Despite Mayor Guo's own representation [in the Senate hearings] that her father is Chinese and a Chinese passport holder, the birth certificates of Mayor Guo, as well as her siblings, Seimen Leal Guo and Shiela Leal Guo, indicated Angelito Guo's citizenship as Filipino. All three birth certificates were subject to late registration," Gatchalian pointed out.

Apart from Guo's case, Gatchalian noted PSA data showing an average of 972,830 delayed birth registrations annually from 2023 to 2022, and out of the 111 million Filipinos in 2020, roughly 3.7 million did not have birth certificates or were not registered.

Despite the existence of a Joint Memorandum Circular No. 2021-01 or the Revised Guidelines for Delayed Registration of Birth issued by the PSA and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Gatchalian said "there appears to be leniency in the existing practice of delayed birth registration in the Philippines."

This is not the first measure that was filed in the Senate on late birth registration which rooted In Guo's case.

Earlier this month, Senator Jinggoy Estrada filed Senate Bill 2703 or the Delayed Registration of Birth Act which seeks to strengthen the regulations on late registrations of birth by amending the decades-old Act No. 3753 or the Law on Registry of Civil Status.

Guo is at the center of the Senate investigation into the raided Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) hub in Bamban, Tarlac after several documents showed that she was personally involved in the processing of documents for its operations.

Guo's citizenship was also questioned due to her inconsistent testimonies about her background and the supposed dubious documents regarding her Filipino citizenship which resulted in her suspension by the Office of the Ombudsman. 

Her camp has submitted a letter to the Office of Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin to explain her side amid accusations against her and asked for "fairness."

She reiterated that the accusations linking her to criminal activities of POGOs in her town are baseless. --VAL, GMA Integrated News