Caloocan cracks down on fake ‘cedulas’

Caloocan City Mayor Enrico Echiverri ordered a crackdown yesterday on the proliferation of fake residence or community tax certificates, more widely known as cedulas, in the city after several complaints reached his office.

Echiverri, in a letter addressed to Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) chief Jose Mario Bunag, sought assistance and asked the agency "to seriously look into the matter and further coordinate with the city government of Caloocan" in battling unscrupulous elements behind the reported incidents.

The mayor said he has tasked the city police to immediately investigate. Echiverri said he deplores the practice which victimizes poor residents and deprives the city of a much needed financial boost from this tax.

He said a report reached him yesterday telling him about an unnamed teacher who tried to secure a cedula in a place outside of City Hall, but entertained suspicions the certificate given to her was fake.

The teacher allegedly brought her copy to City Hall for verification. When put against an ultra-violet machine used to verifying the authenticity of bills, the paper turned out to be fake.

The paper put up for verification failed to reflect the security watermark characteristic of the genuine certificates.

The police are now on the prowl for identified suspects in strategic areas where they are likely to operate.

Echiverri said they expect to make arrests soon, "today at the earliest."