Solon pushes probe on fake documents at 'Recto University'

A lawmaker has asked Congress to investigate the proliferation of shops specializing in the forgery of documents such as diplomas and school transcripts along Claro M. Recto Avenue in Manila after the use of fake documents caught the eye of authorities in the Middle East.

 

Ang Nars party-list Rep. Leah Paquiz filed House Resolution 2230 urging the House of Representatives Committee on Overseas Workers Affairs to conduct an inquiry into what she called as “Recto University,” or the shops within the University Belt area in Manila which is popular among people who resort to faking documents for employment and other purposes.

 

“It is public knowledge that documents such as identification cards, receipts, school transcripts, diplomas and documents supposedly authenticated with red ribbon by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) or any other forged documents can be sourced at 'Recto University' for a fee and in a few hours,” she said.

 

The lawmaker said the illegal practice of forging government and employment documents has placed Filipino professionals and skilled workers in the country and abroad at “a disadvantageous position” because some employers have begun to doubt the authenticity of the documents they present for work. 

 

“The Recto University is in itself passively allowing discrimination to proliferate against our workers as we are being branded as fraudulent workers,” she said.

 

Paquiz cited a report by the Philippine Council of Engineers and Architects in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia stating that the Saudi Council of Engineers (SCE) has gathered data showing that a number of Filipinos working as engineers and architects in Saudi Arabia used fraudulent documents.

 

The reported data shows a total of 460 Filipino engineers and architects were found to have been using forged credentials in 2014. The latest data for 2015 counts 497 Filipino professionals in the engineering sector as having fake employment documents.

 

Paquiz said the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has also reported that its personnel are now handling a number of criminal cases involving Filipinos who used fake credentials in entering the country.

 

Based on the information the lawmaker received, a Filipino nurse in Jeddah is in danger of facing stiffer penalties and prison terms for the crime of malpractice, in addition to criminal prosecution for felony because she forged her employment papers. —ALG, GMA News