These past few days, we’re been reporting about fake soldiers, fake cigarettes, fake evacuees, and fake peso bills. But fake government documents take the cake…for now.
“Two suspected members of a syndicate engaged in producing photocopies of special allotment release orders (SAROS) were connected with the office of Budget Undersecretary Mario Relampagos, according to a source involved in investigating the racket,” report Gil Cabacungan Jr. and Nancy Carvajal on Philippine Daily Inquirer.
The National Bureau of Investigation has been sending summonses to employees of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) where the fake documents, called SAROs, originated. A SARO is a DBM document that facilitates the release of funds for lawmakers.
Investigators discovered that the fake SAROs were copies of the original ones, prompting someone to, creatively, name the group behind the scheme as the “Xerox Gang.” We’re still at a loss how people managed to label the gang they’re investigating.
The issue reared its ugly head as government looks into the mess uncovered by whistleblowers against the P10-billion pork barrel scam involving alleged mastermind Janet Lim Napoles.
Photo by Joseph Barillari via WikiCommons
