Gov’t blocks 1,600 birth certificates illegally obtained by foreigners

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine government has so far blocked more than 1,600 birth certificates fraudulently obtained by foreign nationals.

This was confirmed by Sen. Grace Poe, chairperson of the Senate’s panel on finance, at the chamber’s marathon plenary debates on the proposed 2025 funding.

Poe’s pronouncement came after Sen. Risa Hontiveros asked what the Philippine government was doing to curb the proliferation of fake birth certificates, citing former Bamban Mayor Alice Guo’s (real name: Guo Hua Ping) case.

READ: Senators want crackdown on fake birth certificates

“Sa hearings po natin kay Guo Hua Ping, lumabas ang pang aabusong ginagawa sa late registration para makakuha ng pekeng Filipino citizenship ang mga dayuhang may masamang balak dito. Nag-conduct po ba ng internal audit o investigation ang PSA sa mga pekeng birth certificate na ito?” asked Hontiveros on Thursday.

(In our hearings with Guo Hua Ping, we discovered that foreign nationals abuse this late registration scheme to get fake Filipino citizenship. Did the PSA conduct an internal audit or investigation on these fake birth certificates?)

Poe, for her part, said 1,627 birth certificates have been blocked by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

“[A total of] 1,627 birth certificates of foreign nationals were blocked by the PSA after its investigation, finding the documents to be spurious. The names of foreign nationals were shared with the Bureau of Immigration, Department of Foreign Affairs, and [the] National Bureau of Immigration, but from what I know out of those numbers, 18 were endorsed to the Office of the Solicitor General for cancellation,” said Poe.

Poe’s declaration was welcomed by Hontiveros, who noted that the blocking and endorsement for cancellation is “a start.”

READ: Over 300 fake birth certificates used to apply for PH passport

During the deliberations of the national budget bill in 2023, then Sen. Sonny Angara disclosed that more than 300 fake birth certificates linked to foreigners and Filipinos alike were used for Philippine passport applications in 2023.