By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

A Bacolod City councilor revealed that they caught an authorized person outside of residence (APOR) from Cebu who submitted fake documents via the S-PaSS system.

City Councilor Ayesha Joy Villaflor, who also chairs the city’s task force on the acceptance of APORs, said based on the copy of the documents of the APOR, whom she refused to identify, the documents showed that the individual had the specimen collected on May 31, 2021 at 4:09 p.m. and the result was released June 1, 2021 at 3:24 a.m.

Villaflor said the APOR applied for entry on Tuesday, May 25, 2021, and they instantly knew that the documents were fake due to the dates.

“Bal-anon nga fake ang iya RT-PCR test results, because it was only May 25 when we received the documents,” she said.

The councilor also noted that the incident was not the first time that they encountered individuals submitting fake swab results. She warned those who are seeking entry into the city that they are checking the documents thoroughly one by one and are also verifying the results by contacting the laboratory itself.

Villaflor added she will file a complaint to the city’s Emergency Operations Center against the APOR’s company regarding the fake documents submitted to them.

Under Republic Act 11332, or the “Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Health Concern Act,” anyone caught tampering with documents and records issued by public health authorities is a criminal offense.

Penalties include a P20,000 to P50,000 fine, prison time of one to six months, or both./DGB, WDJ