Recently, there have been many unresolved questions regarding the person of an elected public official. To put it plainly, it seems nobody knows where she came from. Based on media reports, the documents she has shown about herself and others connected to her seem, to put it bluntly, both questionable and inconsistent.
In light of this, I thought it timely to discuss the unintended costs and effects of using fake public documents — fake identification cards to be exact.
Back in the day, the purpose of fake IDs was to get inside nightclubs and gaming clubs, and for minors to be able to buy alcohol. Some people used fake identification to get LTO driver’s licenses.
The use of fake identification was at the time not much condemned. If it was an offense in the statute books, it was widely considered a “victimless” crime, or a crime that had no victim. After all, those who got fake IDs merely went for the convenience it brought, not to harm anybody or rob them of anything valuable.
However, are these fake IDs really “victimless?” Especially in the context of today’s technological developments? Nowadays, the purposes for using fake IDs have sadly evolved for the worse and have effects that are detrimental to the country.
One popular example is the Senior Citizen (SC) or Persons with Disability (PWD) ID. This is very popular among online sellers and buyers. Why wouldn’t it be? SCs and PWDs are entitled to a 20 percent discount and are exempted from VAT.
In this connection, it is worth mentioning that business establishments, such as but not limited to restaurants and hotels, are not subsidized by the government when they grant the 20-percent discount. The businesses absorb that discount and it affects their profits and losses. Of course, we love and respect our SCs and PWDs, but some individuals do not have a legitimate and medically vouched-for disability. They are not Seniors or PWDs but enjoy the benefits granted by the law.
If too many people avail of the 20-percent discount, notwithstanding their ineligibility, what will happen to the businesses? There are two possibilities. One is they can no longer sustain the discounted prices and decide to close shop. This will lead to layoffs and increased unemployment. Another is that businesses assume that most individuals are seniors or PWDs entitled to a 20-percent discount and so they raise prices across the board to absorb the losses. Those individuals who are not SCs or PWDs are then left to carry the burden of the price increase.
Still victimless?
The next example is fake IDs that are used to open bank accounts. With the onset of digitalization, the ease of conducting financial transactions has exponentially improved. Unfortunately, it has also eased the means to perpetuate fraud in the digital landscape of the banking industry. Almost every day, we receive notifications and warnings reminding us to be careful in our transactions and to whom we send money from our bank accounts.
To warn us is within the obligations of banks to their clients, but the frequency of the warnings is an indication of the rise in the propensity of fraudsters to commit real crimes of fraud and scams.
If there are too many incidents of fraud and too many individuals losing money due to these suspicious and fraudulent transactions, the confidence in the digitalization of transactions will falter. The ease of transacting will be seen instead as one that encourages fraud rather than one that eases the lives of Filipinos.
Our administration is promoting the ease of doing business and the ease of citizens transacting with the government. So we do not like for these initiatives to be canceled or derailed because of the rise in fraudulent transactions. In addition, we would hate to see a time when other countries have no more confidence in our identification cards and documents.
These are but a few of the observations that readily come to mind regarding the intended and unintended costs of using fake IDs. There are others but these two are currently among the most timely and relevant.
Let us do our part in calling out those who sell and purchase fake IDs. It is not just about you or a few individuals. If unabetted, this issue can spiral out of control and negatively affect our country — and all of us — for the worse.