Up to 6 million ‘fake’ PWDs? Use of bogus discount cards alarms DOJ

MANILA, Philippines — The chief prosecutor of the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Thursday warned individuals who acquired identification cards for people with disability (PWD) through illegal means or deception that they may face possible criminal liability.

Chief State Counsel Dennis Chan also warned of sanctions against business owners who unilaterally confiscate, without proper verification or legal measures, PWD IDs that they believe are fake.

Citing data from the National Council on Disability Affairs (NCDA), Chan pointed to the “alarming” gap of 5.7 million between registered PWDs and the number of people using PWD IDs to obtain benefits for disabled persons granted by law.

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“Despite 2.8 million registered PWDs, there are around 8.5 million people using PWD IDs. So, there is a discrepancy of around 6 million [who are] unaccounted for,” Chan said at a press conference on Thursday.

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READ: Lifetime validity pushed for IDs of persons with permanent disabilities

This discrepancy will result in “serious economic loss not only to the business owners, but also to the government,” he said. Chan, however, said there were no updated figures on the financial losses.

Criminal charges

In 2023 alone, the government was estimated to have lost P88.2 billion in tax revenues because of the unscrupulous use of PWD IDs. The estimate was based on data gathered by the Senate committee on ways and means in 2024.

Republic Act No. 10754, which expanded the benefits and privileges under the Magna Carta for PWDs, entitles PWD ID holders to a 20-percent discount and exemption from the 12-percent value-added tax on certain goods and services.

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Those who are found using bogus PWD IDs could face criminal charges, such as falsification of public documents and estafa, Chan warned. Public officers who connive with others to produce such fake government-issued IDs may also be charged with graft, he added.

He stressed, however, that it was illegal to seize PWD IDs deemed to be fake. Business owners should honor a PWD ID regardless of whether they have doubts about its authenticity.

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“Prior verification of the validity of a PWD ID is not allowed under the law. You have to extend the benefit already upon presentation of the ID,” Chan said. “However, the establishment is not prevented from subsequently validating the authenticity of the ID. Once the ID is proven to be fake, then there are legal actions that the business establishment can take against those individuals using the fake PWD ID.”

‘Foolproof verification’

The DOJ said the warning for both people with fake PWD IDs and erring businesses was part of the legal opinion that the NCDA sought on the matter. Chan said the NCDA would release the document soon.

A unified PWD ID system is in the works for a “foolproof verification” of PWDs, Chan said. The project, which the NCDA announced last year, involves creating a new ID and database that will initially cover 200,000 PWDs in 25 local government units.

Chan said that it may take two or three years to fully implement the system and fix the current records, which have to be cross-checked for duplication.

Aside from the physical version, a digital format will also be introduced that will be accessible through a mobile application or web portal and will include a QR code for fast and secure verification.

Backlash

Some PWDs who have been medically diagnosed with disabilities are suffering from the backlash against fake IDs from some restaurants.

A female medical technologist who has been diagnosed with major depressive disorder and anxiety shared with the Inquirer the formal complaint she recently wrote to the NCDA after she was denied the 20-percent discount by a restaurant last month.

The woman said that the restaurant staff refused to honor her digital PWD ID that she presented on her phone. She also offered to have the ID scanned for further verification, but the staff simply dismissed it because she did not have the physical card.

She said in her letter to the NCDA that she made a “reasonable effort” to establish the validity of her PWD ID on her phone but was not given the opportunity to have it properly checked by the staff of the restaurant, which denied her the discount she was entitled to.

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She told the agency that this was concerning, given that the government pushes for a unified ID system. /cb