Press Release - Transcript of Interview: Senator Risa Hontiveros on ANC's Headstart

Q: All right, let's start first with that damning revelation on 1,500 fake birth certificates issued from Davao del Sur, a barangay there, an area there, 1,500, mostly to Chinese nationals. Let's talk about just the scope of that revelation.

Senator Risa Hontiveros (SRH): So, it seems we were reasonable in worrying habang iniimbestiga si Guo Hua Ping o Mayor Alice Guo, worrying about nag-iisa lang ba siya or are there others?

Kasi nakita natin sa kaso niya na wow, so a foreign national could come to the Philippines, obtain what is later on found out to be an irregular birth certificate, pero gamit yung birth certificate na yun bilang Pilipino, nakakapag-negosyo siya dito, ganyang kalaking negosyo tulad ng isang POGO hub, use that POGO hub as a cover for various crimes, at the same time, win public office and serve inside our government, inside our state. So the scale of what is also now being investigated in another province of our country will tell us na dapat talaga to get to the bottom of the roots of our problems with POGO and with other businesses or political participation na maaaring ginagawa nila under cover of fake Filipino birth certificates or other identification documents.

Q: With that revelation first, do you believe this worsened and really started even during the time of former President Duterte? His executive order allowing POGOs, but the fact that the fake birth certificates, more than a thousand, came ironically from Davao del Sur, his home province.

SRH: Well, certainly that's part of his home region and if you put two and two together na panahon ni Duterte nag-open door policy, may EO tungkol sa POGOs and then we find out that there's this proliferation of fake birth certificates mula din sa home region niya.

Again, ibig sabihin we have to get to the bottom gaano ba kalaki, kalawak, ka-interrelated itong buong POGO phenomenon and how have the disruption or the distortion of government agencies and government processes tulad nang dapat regular na pagi-issue ng birth certificates been used para pahigpitin yung kapit ni Duterte at ng mga kasosyo niya sa negosyo at sa pulitika sa ganitong mga pagsangkapan ng government institutions and