Municipal Mayor Jose Nelson “Tata” Z. Sala Sr. of Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur bared that the local government unit (LGU) of Sta. Cruz is investigating the falsification of birth certificates for Chinese nationals by the Local Civil Registry (LCR).
This developed after the National Bureau of Investigation 11 (NBI 11) apprehended on Tuesday afternoon a Chinese national who allegedly had a falsified birth certificate issued at the municipality’s LCR office.
“We do not tolerate this kind of illegal transaction under my administration. In fact, we are already conducting our own fact-finding investigation and initial actions were already made concerning those involved personnel ever since this issue surfaced,” Sala said in a statement.
According to NBI 11 Director lawyer Arcelito Albao, the Chinese national was applying for a Philippine passport at the Department of Foreign Affairs-Davao (DFA-Davao) allegedly using a fake ID, driver’s license, and birth certificate issued from the local registry of Sta. Cruz.
“Nag-a-apply siya sa DFA at alam mong hindi Pilipino kasi he cannot speak Visayan and Tagalog. May registration ito noong 2013 inaplay sa LCR and during the interview ng DFA, tinanong siya kung sino ang nagpaanak sa kanya, sabi niya doctor and nung tiningnan namin, hilot ang nakalagay. Doon pa lang klaro na hindi siya na-brief ng maayos,” Albao told the media.
NBI 11 Assistant Regional Director Jonathan Balite said the Chinese national was born in Fujian, China.
The NBI 11 also discovered about 200 falsified birth certificates issued to Chinese nationals from 2018 to 2019 in Sta. Cruz, Davao Del Sur.
Sala said, although, the LGU of Sta. Cruz has yet to receive the official information, communication, or details from the NBI, but they are committed to cooperating with their investigation in as much as their local registry records are concerned.
“We welcome the investigation made by the NBI and other related national government agencies as this will also help our own investigation in curbing the proliferation of spurious birth certificates in our municipality,” he said.
He also assured that the LGU is doing its best to ensure that the rule of law will prevail and that its workforce is observing appropriate regulations and standards in the performance of their functions.
“Those who will be found involved with these illegal transactions will certainly be subjected to appropriate administrative actions,” Sala said.
