SOME 20 individuals are awaiting charges after being caught by Baguio quarantine checkpoint personnel to be holding fake travel documents in August.
Among the 20 individuals were a group of six outbound overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) found to have falsified reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test results. They were subsequently detained by order of the Baguio City Police Office.
Baguio City Police Office (BCPO) Director Col. Glenn Lonogan on Wednesday said they cannot do anything but file the criminal cases because the individuals violated the law.
The individuals will be charged for violation of Republic Act 11332 or “Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Health Concern Act.”
The six individuals, who came to Baguio seeking certification from the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), could not acquire the certification in Metro Manila as it was under quarantine. They have since been bailed out by their manpower agency with P34,000 bail per individual.
Meanwhile, charges have also been filed under the same law for 14 other individuals throughout the month of August.
The 14 were nabbed at the Police Station 10 along Marcos Highway, which sees the most inbound traffic of all the border checkpoints in Baguio.
Among the 14 were six individuals from Cavite who were caught with falsified documents and subsequently bailed out by their employer, as well as a mother and child whose documents were called into question after inconsistencies in the documents’ fonts were spotted.
The BCPO, in addition to the detainments, has also turned away some 377 individuals with incomplete documents throughout the month of August.
