Foreigners paying P500K each to get PH passports – senator

SENATE deputy minority leader Risa Hontiveros yesterday said she has received information that foreigners pay as much as P500,000 each to get a Philippine passport.

“We are currently looking into information that foreign nationals allegedly pay P500,000 per passport. I trust that the Ombudsman will investigate this exhaustively and get to the bottom of this issue,” Hontiverso said in a statement.

She added: “Mukhang may mga ahensiya ng gobyerno na kailangan maglinis ng bakuran kasi ang daming nagkakalat (It looks like some government agencies need to clean its ranks because they have people who are putting these agencies in a bad light).”

She stressed that Philippine passports are not for sale, hence, foreigners should not treat the official document as a mere commodity.

“This is an offense to our Filipino identity, our history, and our national dignity,” she said.

The issue on Philippine passports ending in the hands of foreigners was discovered after combined government agents raided a Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) hub in Pasay City and recovered various government-issued identification cards in the possession of foreign workers.

The government IDs, according to the raiding team, were used by the foreigners to get their Philippine passports.

“We found that government-issued IDs are easily given to Chinese POGO workers which they then use to get a Philippine passport,” Hontiveros said.

Hontiveros said her office has also uncovered that birth certificates, voters’ identification cards, and passports, among others, were being sold to these Chinese POGO workers through online advertisements.

“This is a serious national concern. Now that China is far from dialing down on her aggression in the West Philippine Sea, she may be taking advantage of our porous borders, our weakened institutions, and our own corrupt officials to advance her interests. Let us all remain vigilant. Huwag natin basta papasukin ang mga dayuhang inaangkin ang sariling atin (Let us not allow foreigners who are claiming our territories to enter our country),” she said.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) has said that foreigners have been using tampered birth certificates in