A person involved in the production of fake business permits was arrested in an entrapment operation conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation at a mall in Bacolod City on Saturday, Bacolod Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez said Monday, February 5.
The NBI filed a complaint against Jaymoun Oliveros for falsification of public documents before the Bacolod City Prosecutor’s Office on Monday afternoon.
“We are looking at a syndicate behind these activities…we will continue the investigation to clean up city hall and all others involved in illegal activities,” the mayor said.
He wants the investigation to determine if there are city government employees also involved, Benitez said.
The mayor sought the entrapment operation after a businessman reported that when the QR code on his business permit was scanned it belonged to that of another business.
The businessman said he had asked someone he knew who had been working at the Bacolod City Government Center to process his business permit last year because he was busy.
When his staff processed his business permit for 2024 he was surprised to discover that the one issued previously was fake and that he still owed the city government for what was due last year.
Someone then called him to go to Bargain Square Mall in downtown Bacolod to get his new business permit. He then discovered that it was at Kurit Portrait Gallery where the fake permits are made.
Oliveros, Kurit Portrait Gallery employee, said they charged P1,000 for the printing of a fake business permit on ordinary paper and an additional P300 if printed on special paper.
Records of the NBI showed that the owner of the portrait shop had also been previously caught for making fake identification cards in 2019, City Legal Officer Romeo Carlos Ting Jr. said.
Also being faked are city health cards, drivers licenses and business permits, Ting said.*