The local government of Valenzuela City has recently approved an ordinance allowing the owners of commercial establishments to confiscate tampered senior citizen and persons with disability (PWD) identification cards.

Valenzuela City First District Councilor Walter Magnum dela Cruz shared that with the prevalence of falsified identification cards, the country is losing P80 billion in taxes.

The city councilor recently appeared as a resource speaker during a Senate hearing regarding the fake PWD IDs.

Dela Cruz said that they conducted a “three-step process” to eliminate the presence of fake IDs in Valenzuela City.

“Prosecute. We filed criminal cases against the persons who possess the fake ID,” the city councilor said.

Afterward, they reached a settlement with the carriers of the fake IDs, contingent on their agreement to testify against those who provided the IDs.

Their investigation revealed that the prices of fake IDs in Valenzuela City range from P2,000 to P2,500.

They also had a data-sharing agreement with one of the biggest drug stores in the country, wherein after the presentation of the discount ID by the customer, it can immediately identify if the discount ID is verified.

In the final step, all establishments in Valenzuela City are now authorized to confiscate the falsified ID.

“The establishment is to record the confiscation and submit the physical copy of the ID to the City Social Welfare and Development Office within three working days,” the councilor shared.

Dela Cruz added that a customer who refuses to surrender their ID may face a criminal complaint.

Meanwhile, erring establishments will face an equal punishment if they attempt to confiscate an ID with no valid reason.

However, since it’s only an ordinance, its effectiveness will only rotate within the city itself.

“If there are IDs from different cities, we won’t be able to verify it because we don’t have data from that particular city.”

Dela Cruz further added that he hopes there will be a central database for the identification cards.

“The DSWD must spearhead a system of a nationalized database which is readily available to the public.”