Unlike the appointed son of god who claims he has the power to stop seismic forces, the magical president ordered the concerned government agencies to stop all Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) but there too has no effect thus far. The claim of fugitive appointed sone of god has been a laughing matter to people in their normal senses. On the other hand, the order issued by the magical president is a serious matter that must be followed by all concerned government agencies. The order is an urgent matter but its actual implementation may not be as urgent as needed.
The clamor to stop POGO gained public support when the senate investigation kept on unearthing more illegal activities by foreign nationals, mostly Chinese who were operating in the buildings reportedly owned by suspended mayor Alice Guo. The discovery of documents leading to the true identity of the suspended mayor and her family led to more issues regarding her and her siblings birth records. It appeared that the certificates of live birth were falsified as there was another Alice Guo with the same birthdate, place of birth and parents. The other Alice Guo had a passport which bear a different picture but whose signature and thumbprint are similar with that of the suspended mayor.
Expanding the probe into the system of birth registration led to the discovery of more chines nationals having acquired certificates of live birth through the late registration system. Surprisingly, the investigation identified a municipality in Mindanao where the reported face certificates of live birth were issued. It caused the investigating committee to invite resource persons from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) which is the government agency that keeps a registry of such documents. A deeper look into the system merely resulted in the usual procedure where such documents emanate from the local civil registrar of the various local government units. The role of the PSA was merely ministerial as the documents are recorded without verifying its authenticity.
Further investigation bared that every falsified certificate of live birth that the local civil registrar is able to fabricate bears a cost as high as three hundred thousand pesos. The corrupted late registration system could led into those Chinese nationals to obtain other government documents such as a Philippine passport, driver’s license, permit to carry firearm or even into contracts. The investigators could hardly obtain accurate data as to the exact number of those who were able to obtain fake certificates of live birth, much more passports considering that there are many government agencies authorized to issue passports.
The complexity of the problem is too alarming and the investigating committee could not yet pinpoint the people who could be held liable. Even those who were involved in the production of fake certificates of live birth are still free. They could be enjoying the huge sum they were able to rake from the foreign nationals who availed of their illegal services.
In the meantime, the government agencies tasked to stop POGO operations are too far from complying with the urgent order issued by the magical president during his State of the Nation Address. It is now over a month since such order and the prospect of its happening appears farfetched. The public is waiting for POGO to really stop.
comments to alellema@yahoo.com
