FORGERY MARKET IN THE PHILIPPINES

You had to take four to seven years of college courses to graduate and have a diploma. You have to file an annulment and pay three-hundred fifty thousand pesos ( P350,000.00) and endure years of waiting for processing before it could be granted. You need to wait three months for the birth certificate to be registered at Philippine Statistic Authority(PSA), and now you need to study driving and pass the test to get a driver’s license. Birth certificates, cenomar, deletion of marriage, driver’s licenses, Diplomas.

and even quarantine passes. These are just a few examples of fake documents that can easily be obtained in an hour at a known forgery market in Manila, The RECTO.

Recto, known as the “University belt” has long been known for counterfeit documents from Master forgers. If you walk around the area, you will find a lot of printing shops and books shops. Some of them use this business as a frontline but inside are owners who do forging of fake documents.

Outside those shops are groups of men and women openly offering you a deal to get any documents you need.

Ana has been separated for five years, and now she has found a new relationship with a foreigner. Here in the Philippines,, we don’t have Divorce but Annulment which is a very expensive and long process. According to Ana, “Kailangan kung maghanap ng paraan na mas madali,gusto na ng fiancee ko na makapunta ako agad sa U.S, isang kaibigan ko ang nagsabi na sa Recto daw ako kumuha kasi yong kakilala daw nya ganun ang ginawa at ngayon nasa ibang bansa na”. Ana said she tried to get a copy of an annulment document and paid 6,000.00, waiting an hour and a half for processing. “Pinasa ko sya kasama ng iba kong dukomento sa embassy pero na deny ako. Ang laki ng pagsisisi ko kasi nakasira pa sya sa record ko sa embassy”, she said. Alicia however shared , “I didn’t finish my high-school education. I went to college using my friend’s documents.” So when she graduated the diploma was not under her name but her friend’s. “Ginawa ko yun para makapag- aral ako dahil gusto ko na makatulong sa magulang ko.Hindi man akin yong name nakalagay sa school records,akin naman ang kaalaman. Ngayong nag aapply ako pa abroad, hinihingi school documents ko kaya wala akong choice kundi kumuha sa Recto. Meron akong Diploma at transcript of records na naka red ribbon na sa halagang dalawang libo at limang daan piso lang (P2,500.00).” With offers like these it is easy to see how customers could be baited. This forgery of documents at Claro M. Recto has been operating since the 60s. Falsification of documents, Forgery, and Fraud, are categorized as white-collar crime offenses. The risks people are taking if they get caught will lead to imprisonment of not less than six years but not more than twelve years, with a fine of fifty-thousand pesos ( P50,000.00). Nowadays, if you go to Recto, you will find young boys standing in every corner by groups hunting for prospective clients offering their services.

A guy named “ White” handles the group in one area. His boys will be the ones who will search for clients and White is the one who negotiates and makes a deal. He said “ four-five (P4,500.00) po mam ang singilan para sa annulment at seven-thousand (P7,000) pag naka apostille na po.” he added that “ Atty. Po kasi nagawa nyan at wala po yan sabit”. And for the Cenomar, he charges Three- thousand five hundred pesos(P3,500.00).” PSA an po yan mam,galing talaga PSA lalabas kayong single” White confirmed. The city government has tried to close down this forgery operation many times, yet they still keep coming back because the market still exists; a lot of Filipinos are attracted to the easiest and the cheapest way to get the documents they need.