Leaders of the “Young Guns” in the House of Representatives on Sunday expressed outrage at reports that the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) found what they can only describe as a mill churning out fake birth certificates for Chinese nationals in a Davao del Sur town as one of the beneficiaries was arrested after applying for a passport in Davao City, using the falsified document, a press release from the House of Representatives said.
Davao Oriental Rep. Cheeno Miguel Almario, Zambales Rep. Jay Khonghun, Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong, Ako Bicol Rep. Jil Bongalon, La Union Rep. Paolo Ortega, 1-Rider Partylist Rep. Rodge Gutierrez, and Inno Dy V of Isabela are all calling for a congressional inquiry into the NBI’s discovery that close to 200 fake birth certificates were issued to Chinese nationals by the local civil registry of Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur.
NBI SEMRO director Atty. Archie Albao said Hengson Lemosnero, who was originally identified by NBI as Hanlin Qiu, was apprehended at the Department of Foreign Affairs office in Ecoland, Davao City after applying for a Philippine passport using a fake birth certificate.
He is one of the 200 Chinese nationals who acquired falsified birth certificates from the municipal civil registry of Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur.
Adiong, who also called for an inquiry, would like to know if these Chinese nationals had a backer that emboldened them to “make a mockery of the sanctity of the country’s birth certificate.”
For Bongalon, a lawyer, the fraudulent activity is “particularly disheartening.”
Ortega, an Assistant Majority Leader, also said that Chinese infiltrators, armed with falsified Philippine birth certificates, pose a dire threat to the Philippines’ national security.
Dy, a Deputy Majority Leader, said that with these reports, the House of Representatives must “act decisively to address this issue.”*
