A member of the House of Representatives is calling for an investigation into the blatant forgery of documents such as school diplomas and government-issued identification cards at the infamous “Recto University” in Manila.

Representative Leah Paquiz of the ANG NARS partylist group said the inquiry  aims to finally put an end to these acts of falsification and fraud openly committed by unscrupulous persons for a fee at “Recto University.”

The term “Recto University” was coined to describe the one-stop shop where one can have official documents forged, which is located in a stretch of Claro M. Recto Avenue in Manila.

In filing House Resolution 2230, Paquiz  urged the House Committee on Overseas Workers Affairs to conduct the inquiry and for the government, in partnership with the private sector, to draw up a mechanism that would put a stop to “Recto University’s” illegal activities.

"It is public knowledge that documents such as identification cards, receipts, school transcripts, diplomas and documents supposedly authenticated with red ribbon by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) or any other forged documents can be sourced at Recto University for a fee and in a few hours," the ANG NARS lawmaker said.

ANG NARS is a partylist ally of the National Unity Party (NUP) under the Coalition for Peace and Development.

Paquiz cited a report by the Philippine Council of Engineers and Architects in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which said the Saudi Council of Engineers (SCE) has gathered data showing that a number of Filipinos working as engineers and architects in Saudi Arabia used fraudulent documents.

"The reported data shows that a total of 120 in 2011, 143 in 2012, 281 in 2013, 460 in 2014 and 497 in 2015 Filipino engineers and architects were found to have been using forged credentials," Paquiz said.

Paquiz said the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia is now handling a number of criminal cases filed against  Filipinos accused of  using fake credentials to enter that country. 

"One such case is that of a Filipino nurse in Jeddah who not only faces criminal prosecution for the felony of forgery of documents but stiffer penalties and prison terms for the crime of malpractice," Paquiz said.

"The Recto University is in itself passively allowing discrimination to proliferate against our workers as we are being branded as fraudulent workers," Paquiz added.