The Philippines' Culture of Fraud and Deceit

This week in stupid legislation: Senator Ralph Recto wants to pass a law giving lifetime validity to birth certificates.  The problem? They already have a lifetime validity!

https://www.rappler.com/nation/235851-recto-files-bill-birth-certificates-without-expiration

Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto has filed a bill seeking to give "lifetime validity" to birth certificates, his office said on Saturday, July 20. 

In filing the bill, Recto said he wanted to end the practice of government and private offices requiring applicants for documents, permits, services, or jobs, to provide recently issued birth certificates. 

Under the proposed bill, a "birth certificate certified and issued by the PSA [Philippine Statistics Authority] shall not expire and shall be considered valid at any time.”

He said to the credit of the PSA, “it has never been remiss in explaining that birth certificates it has issued have no expiry dates, but this assurance remains unheeded in many offices which continue to require that the submitted birth certificate was issued within the past 6 months." 

Recto said Filipinos shound not incur unnecessary expenses and go through the trouble of applying for a new birth certificate.  

(The birth certificate is not food or sardines that go bad. It's sad that so many offices require newly acquired birth certificates, which is another burden on applicants.) 

Only a law, said Recto, would stop “an unnecessary, expensive, and oppressive” requirement.

The senator also urged the government to persuade foreign embassies in the country to stop asking visa applicants for birth, marriage and other PSA-issued certificates issued only in the past 6 months.

Let's cut right to the heart of the matter. If procuring new birth certificates and marriage licenses and other documents every time one applies for a job or a passport or a visa or anything else where those documents are required is expensive and oppressive the only ones to blame are Filipinos themselves. In the Philippines there is a culture of fraud which permeates the entire nation. Ground Zero is Recto University in Manila.

http://lifestyle.inquirer.net/152690/recto-university-you-name-it-they-have-it/

From an ID card to a driver’s license, thesis paper, receipt, Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) red ribbon, diploma or any other document, you can get it here. One can order these items for anywhere between P200 and P1,500 and collect it after two hours at most. But of course, it’s fake. 

Claro M. Recto Avenue, known as “Recto University,” is a one-stop shop not only for students in Metro Manila but also for those from the provinces who need documents for a job. 

A year-round bestseller is the Land Transportation Office (LTO) driver’s license, which costs P500. Joey explained that they already have blank IDs ready to be filled up, whether it be a university or government ID. 

Another popular item for sale in Joey’s stall is the fake diploma. A high-school diploma is worth P250, while a college diploma is worth P500 (larger diplomas from certain colleges cost more). 

When asked whether he has a copy of diplomas of every university in Metro Manila, he says confidently,  “Oo naman.” 

Moreover, Joey bragged, “Recto U” is not limited to the universities in Metro Manila. There also are copies of diplomas from schools as far as  Mindanao and Visayas, some of them not known to Manileños. 

While it seems like most items are overpriced, Joey confessed that the money is barely enough to support his family on a weekly basis. He simply acts as a runner, while the forgeries happen behind closed doors. He  gets his cut of the payment weekly (daily, if business is good). 

Moreover, the cops reportedly take a weekly cut from these payments, as well. 

“Minsan ang kinikita diyan nabibigay din sa mga police. Bawal maglagay diyan hangga’t hindi sila nabibigyan ng kotong,” he says. “Minsan zero pa isang araw, eh, walang nagpapagawa.” 

Their cut ranges from P40-P300 a week, depending on the weekly profit of the stall. 

Through the years, “Recto University” has existed and numerous raids have been conducted by the Manila Police District. Business is bad for about a week. Then people start “graduating” again from “Recto U.”

I have already written about Recto University and the culture of fraud it perpetuates so there is no need to do it again. No need to rehash what everyone knows. A quick Google search for "fake birth certificate Philippines" will quickly inform you of this matter if you are unaware of it.

Surely Senator Recto knows the problem is fraud and not that these documents expire. Surely he knows that government agencies and private businesses are only safeguarding themselves. Surely he knows that his bill will make fraud much more easy. So what is the point of his bill?  It's just a whitewash to make it appear red tape has been cut and the government is now working in the best interests of Filipinos. But preventing fraud is certainly in the best interest of Filipinos which is why recently issued documents are usually required.

Recto University is not the only place fraudulent documents can be obtained but it is the most famous. So when will new Manila Mayor Isko Moreno shut the place down? That will not be as easy as driving away vendors from the main streets because the cops get a big cut of the profits. Recto University is still in operation as just a few days ago 22 forgers were arrested.

https://journal.com.ph/news/metro/22-forgers-nabbed-recto-university-raid

AGENTS of the National Capital Region Police Office yesterday raided several known fake diploma mills known as “Recto University” in Sta. Cruz, Manila, and arrested 22 persons for  manufacturing  counterfeit public documents. 

NCRPO director Major General Guillermo Lorenzo T. Eleazar said the suspects were found either owning or maintaining stalls and other establishments along the stretch of Quezon Boulevard in Sta. Cruz which are known for producing fake diplomas, transcript of records, Voter’s ID, driver’s license, passport, birth certificates and Social Security System IDs. 

Eleazar said he ordered the raid following of persistent complaints about the presence of document counterfeiters that openly ply their trade between Claro M. Recto and Rizal Avenue in Sta. Cruz, Manila. 

He said anyone can acquire fake diplomas for P500 or more depending on the type of university. The suspects can also manufacture counterfeit passports provided they have the original. 

The presence of these ‘fake diploma mills’ have also prompted calls for new Manila Mayor Isko Moreno to order an honest-to-goodness campaign in the area.

Leave it to Senator Recto to whitewash the problem, exemplified by Recto University, as one of inconvenience rather than as one of fraud.

Here's a case of fraud and deceit that has to do with drugs.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1145584/nbi-agents-seize-p2m-meds-sold-in-sari-sari-store-in-iligan-city

Operatives of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), raided a sari-sari store in Purok 9, Barangay Palao here around 5 p.m. Monday, July 22, and seized various medicines worth around P 2 million. 

The store was owned by a certain Florencia Hinampas, who has been selling medicine samples and prescription drugs for about four years already, according to lawyer Abdul Jamal Dimaporo, NBI-Iligan head. 

Dimaporo said the operation stemmed from a request by courier company Air 21 to have its delivery personnel investigated for several instances of lost medicine shipment. 

The local franchisee of Air 21 has been facing numerous complaints from pharmaceutical distributors about missing shipments. This has alarmed Air 21 as its clients have refused to pay for the courier cost of the missing shipments. 

Ilian Macala, the franchise owner of Air 21 in Iligan, said he lost almost P500,000 from their clients who refuse to pay because the shipments were not delivered to them. 

One company, Boehringer Ingelhem (Philippines) Inc., complained about undelivered medicines for diabetes. 

Dimaporo said that the NBI was able to trace the missing shipments to Hinampas’ sari-sari store, sold to it by Air 21’s delivery personnel, 42-year old Jalil Bangcola. 

The said store has been selling prescription drugs and drug samples at prices lower than in pharmacies, Dimaporo added. 

After the raid, Bangcola admitted to two instances when he sold the medicines shipped through Air 21 to Hinampas, the first being sometime in March this year. 

He said the need to provide for his family pushed him to do the act. 

Hinampas admitted to being in the business of selling prescription drugs and medicine samples through her sari-sari store for four years now but said she did not know she is violating the law. 

During Monday’s raid, the store was manned by Hinampas’ nephew, Dindo Ebarle, who has attended to the store for some two years now. 

Ebarle revealed that the store’s supply of medicine samples come from medical representatives who offered him their horde of sample medicines, which he can sell at a competitively low price. 

He also confirmed to have transacted with Bangcola.

(These medicines for high blood, for diabetes, these antibiotics. These should be used based on the proper prescription so that these are not harmful to people. Many buy here without the required prescription from a doctor.)

For four years a sari-sari store has been illegally operating as a pharmacy selling sample medicines sold to them by medical representatives and also buying medicines twice from an Air 21 courier who stole them from customers rather than deliver them. The courier says he did this because he needed to provide for his family. Now he will not be able to provide for his family at all since he will be in jail and likely never able to obtain a job again.

How was this place able to operate for four years with impunity? Is it likely that no one in authority, the police or barangay officials, was aware that this sari-sari store was operating illegally as a pharmacy? With many buying there it is not likely. Possible but not likely. And what about the medical representatives? They are supposed to give those medicines to doctors and hospitals. By selling them cheaply to a sari-sari store they are guilty of fencing. How many other sari-sari stores are  illegally operating as pharmacies after buying fenced goods from medical representatives?

Allow me to end this article the same way I ended my previous article about Recto University.

"The foundations of this nation are rotten to the core. At surface level everything looks white and beautiful. But inside are dead men's bones and every sort of filth. A nation cannot be built on fraud. There must be trust. What kind of nation is it when you can't trust anyone and everything is a lie?"