Philippines fake ID scandal: 1,000 more cases linked to Chinese nationals found

National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) director Jaime Santiago told reporters on Monday that the head of the civil registry office in Santa Cruz since 1994, Mario Tizon, had been suspended following the scandal.

“The actual number has grown to 1,200,” Santiago said.

The NBI, which earlier reported that 200 cases were traced in the same southern region last week, has widened its probe in Luzon Island areas, particularly in the provinces of Pampanga and Tarlac, known to host illegal offshore gaming operations (Pogos) linked to the Chinese.

A source inside the Philippine Statistic Authority (PSA) told This Week in Asia, there could still be a huge number of birth registrations given to foreigners in past years.

“They took advantage of the late registration scheme since it’s easy to have someone’s birth registered,” said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“It could be that the registry office in Santa Cruz is not very strict in terms of documents presented to them during the late registration process.”.

In a statement on Monday, Bureau of Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco said they had asked for data on all Filipinos who used the late registration scheme, for cross-checking with those uncovered by the NBI.

According to Tansingco, the bureau recently intercepted 13 foreign nationals pretending to be Filipinos at Ninoy Aquino International Airport. He did not specify the nationality of the 13 detained citizens.

Political analyst Edmund Tayao, president and CEO of think tank Political Economic Elemental Researchers and Strategists, warned on Tuesday that the security risks posed by Chinese nationals claiming to be Filipino were obvious.

“This happened to other countries already. They opened their doors, made