'Inside jobs behind flood of fake documents'

CORRUPT employees at multiple government agencies could be behind the widespread use of fake birth certificates and illegally obtained passports, Sen. Mark Villar said Thursday. Villar, chairman of the Senate Committee on Games and Amusement, said this was the likely conclusion that could be drawn after a recent raid on a travel agency that was providing fake documents to foreign nationals who wanted to pass themselves off as Filipinos. Villar said this revelation could be the crucial connection needed in the ongoing investigation into the Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs), which President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. banned last year. "Some of their fake documents were marriage certificates, birth certificates, and foreign national passports, which used Filipino names. These illegal [travel] agencies that issue fake documents are sure to have connections with various government agencies," Villar said during a hearing Thursday. "They might have an accomplice to be able to issue these fake documents. This makes us realize that we barely scratched the surface of this POGO issue. We need to look at the angle that there is an inside job. This is the possible reason for the continued entry of foreign nationals into the Philippines using fake documents," he added. Villar said the committee would also want to know about the status of the deportation of foreign POGO workers, especially those who worked in the Philippines using fake and illegal documents, the total number of foreign POGO workers deported, and the Bureau of Immigration's plan regarding the remaining foreign POGO workers in the country. Sen. Raffy Tulfo said he wants all former employees of POGOs to be deported immediately and urged all law enforcement agencies to help eradicate the remaining guerrilla-type of POGO operations in the country.