Photo by: Senate Social Media Unit
SENATOR Win Gatchalian sounded the alarm on cases of foreign criminal syndicates being able to obtain government documents, such as Tax Identification Number (TIN) cards and Philippine National Police-issued identification cards, with such ease.
During the Blue Ribbon Committee probe on unauthorized proliferation and use of government documents by foreign nationals, Gatchalian pointed out that foreign nationals, supposedly working in the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) industry but are actually involved in organized crimes, are able to stay in the country because they were able to obtain legitimate Philippine documents.
Gatchalian said he personally witnessed this when he and Sen. Risa Hontiveros inspected the hub of Smart Web Technology, an establishment provisionally licensed by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR). Authorities recovered local TIN cards, Philhealth IDs, Certificates of Alien Registration, Alien Employment Permits, and police clearances during the raid.
“All those people operating the facility held legitimate Philippine government IDs, making them legitimate people operating legitimate activities in Pasay City,” Gatchalian said Wednesday, March 13, 2024.
