PVAO: Tampered NSO papers used in scam

MANILA, Philippines - A syndicate is making use of tampered National Statistics Office (NSO) documents to claim veterans’ pensions and other benefits, the Philippine Veterans Affairs Office said yesterday.

PVAO administrator Ernesto Carolina said although the tampered documents involved authentic security paper, the “information contained in the documents seemed irregular... The NSO certified that the spurious documents were not issued by their office.”

Following the discovery, Carolina directed the PVAO Legal Affairs Division’s anti-fraud section to file criminal charges against 32 retirees from the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police who submitted fake birth certificates.

Carolina said these retirees falsified the documents in order to avail of old age pension even if they have not reached 65 years of age as required by law. They are being tried at the Quezon City regional trial court, he said.

According to PVAO chief legal officer Rolando Villaflor, the birth certificates submitted by the retirees were printed on genuine NSO paper but the dates of birth were tampered by “expert forgers,” an indication that they had access to the supply of security paper exclusively used by the NSO.

This year, the agency detected 14 spurious birth certificates in addition to the fake Certificates of No Marriage. A CENOMAR is used to prove that a veteran’s surviving spouse has not remarried.

According to the PVAO, the most recent case involved a woman from Barangay Muzon in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan, who claimed to be a spouse of a deceased veteran. The woman submitted a fake marriage contract to support her claim for the veteran’s pension, which was filed 10 years after the veteran’s death.

The PVAO said it disapproved the woman’s application and filed charges against her.