Mayor Olivarez warns public vs fake City Hall employees

Mayor Edwin L. Olivarez today warned the public against unscrupulous persons who could be posing as employees of the city government after authorities arrested two men and seized dozens of fake Parañaque City employees’ identification cards from two printing shops near City Hall.

The discovery of the fake ID cards came a few weeks after authorities arrested a man posing as a Parañaque city hall employee and soliciting from business establishments. That arrest led to the source of the man’s fake ID card in one of the printing shops raided Mondayafternoon.

“I advise our constituents, especially our legitimate business owners, to transact only with duly authorized personnel at the City Hall as much as possible. I also ask them to report immediately any incident of extortion by people who might be simply posing as employees of the city government,” Mayor Olivarez said.

The mayor said the discovery of the fake IDs from the two shops along San Antonio Avenue, just walking distance from City Hall, increased the possibility that there are many other people who could be using fake IDs to pose as business and building inspectors to victimize the public.

The shops were raided Monday by combined elements of the Mayor’s Action Team under Mr.JojoLaurito and the Parañaque Police City Hall Detachment under Chief Insp. RollySantiago after undercover agents were able to transact with the shop owners into making them fake IDs in exchange for Php150 per ID card.

The fake ID cards came complete with plastic casings and strings also bearing the seal of the Parañaque City government.

Aside from the counterfeit items, authorities also confiscated computers from the two shops in the hopes of tracing who have been issued the fake IDs.

The two shop owners Rommel Cabañero y Madrigal and Melven Facturan y Bayate have been charged with violations of the Revised Penal Code for illegal possession and falsification of public documents before the City Prosecutor’s Office.