About 15 fake PWD (persons with disabilities) identification cards were surrendered to the Bacolod Department of Social Services and Development by persons seeking to avail of the new cards being issued by the city government.
DSSD officer-in-charge Alma Gustilo said on Thursday, February 15, that shops found printing the fake PWD cards could face charges.
Bacolod Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez has ordered the recall of all 12,000 PWD cards issued by the city government to weed out the fakes.
The new PWD cards have QR security codes to make it difficult for them to be faked, Benitez said.
The old PWD cards that are fake have mixed up numbers and the wrong disabilities stated on them, Gustilo said.
Those with fake IDs can only avail of new ones by submitting a doctor’s certificate stating their disability to be verified at the City Health Office, she said.
The deadline for the use of the old PWD cards is at the end of the month but Gustilo said temporary certificates with QR codes will be issued for those whose identification cards are still being processed so they can avail of discounts due them, she said.
City Legal Officer Romeo Carlos Ting Jr. said those who use fake PWD cards to avail of discounts could face falsification of public documents raps.*