CHED urges crackdown vs fake diplomas

The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) urged the Philippine National Police and the National Bureau of Investigation to intensify the crackdown against fake diploma syndicates operating at the University Belt in Sampaloc, Manila.

Dr. William Medrano, CHED executive director, said that having no police powers, the commission relies on the PNP and NBI to fulfill their law enforcement functions especially with regards to the proliferation of fake college and university diplomas that could destroy the image of Filipinos applying for jobs in the country and  abroad.

“This is a serious matter. We hope that the PNP and NBI will do their job to prevent the proliferation of fake diplomas,” Medrano said.

There were complaints that the fake diploma syndicates are being protected by corrupt officials of the Manila City Hall and the Manila Police District.

CHED has earlier noted the problem of the existence of a chain of print shops that produce fake college diplomas to unscrupulous job applicants who want to misrepresent themselves as college graduates.

These fake diploma mills are known to operate in small stalls along Recto Avenue and Nicanor Reyes Street in Sampaloc and in Quiapo, Manila.

CHED had sounded the alarm last year when the then chairman Carlito Puno said that instances of fake diplomas produced by these diploma mills had been used by unscrupulous job applicants abroad.

However, instead of calling for the PNP and the NBI to conduct a crackdown, Puno had devised an expensive program with the National Printing Office for the manufacture of “tamper-proof” diplomas that supposedly could not be copied by forgers of the diploma mills.

This program, Medrano said, had been canceled by acting chairman Romulo Neri due to some questions over the CHED-NPO deal.

Medrano said that the fake diploma mills could be put out of business if the PNP and the NBI do an honest-to-goodness crackdown on the diploma mills.