STATEMENT OF SEN. WIN GATCHALIAN ON THE RAIDED COMPANY INVOLVED IN ISSUING FAKE DOCUMENTS AND IMPERSONATING LAW ENFORCERS

The recent raid on a travel and consultancy company involved in issuing "questionable but genuine" Philippine government documents strengthens our suspicion that criminal syndicates may have infiltrated government agencies such as the Philippine Statistics Authority, Bureau of Immigration, Department of Foreign Affairs, and the Philippine National Police.

It is undeniable that this scheme enables POGOs, especially after we learned that one complainant paid P900,000 to this company to free her fiancé and another paid P1.1 million for her husband's release after a raid in Parañaque.

The raid also highlights the need to grant the PSA greater authority to prevent the issuance of fraudulent birth registrations and to penalize civil registrars who facilitate such fake documents, as provided in a bill I have filed in the Senate. Law enforcement agencies must continue their commendable efforts to dismantle these syndicates' illegal operations, as they may be enabling the continued stay of POGO remnants in the country.