CEBU CITY — The district office here of the National Bureau of Investigation has uncovered a syndicate that produces and sells fake government identification cards.

NBI Cebu agent-in-charge Arnel Pura told Daily Tribune that they had placed one suspect and her illegal activities, which had been transacted through social media, under surveillance.

Pura said they then initiated an entrapment operation, whereby an NBI agent acted as one of her clients and asked her to process a non-professional driver's license from the Land Transportation Office for P1,500.

Arrested during the entrapment operations was one Gia Fernandez Genelaso, a resident of Barangay Labangon in Cebu City.

Pura said that throughout the transaction with Genelaso, she assured their agent he could get his driver's license without passing a driving test and without complying with the LTO's qualification requirements.

She said there'd be no need for the client to complete at least eight hours of a practical driving course from an LTO-accredited driving school. Likewise, she maintained that he did not need to secure a valid student driver's permit to get a license.

Last 11 October, Genelaso went to Mandaue to hand in the driver's license and get her payment. It was then that she was arrested by the NBI.

Multiple counts of falsification of public documents were filed against her before the City Prosecutor's Office in Mandaue City. Her cohorts are also being identified by the NBI for their prosecution and arrest.

Aside from three fake driver's licenses, confiscated from Genelaso were five Government Service Insurance System UMID cards, five National IDs, three postal IDs, two Bureau of Internal Revenue tax ID cards, one piece each of PhilHealth and Social Security System cards.

Also taken from the suspect during her arrest was the P1,600 in marked money handed to her by the agent as payment. A motorcycle used by the suspect in delivering the fake IDs was also recovered.

Pura said the fake government IDs were made in Bulacan.