Man held for fake eligibility certificate

MANILA, Philippines - A man who was trying to land a job in government was arrested Tuesday for presenting a fake Certificate of Eligibility (COE) at the Civil Service Commission (CSC) Central Office in Quezon City.

Hunsel Ubias, 29, of Sampaloc, Manila, went to the CSC to request for authentication of his COE, claiming to have obtained an 80 percent passing grade in the career service professional examination held at the CSC Central Office on June 1, 2012.

The COE is a security document issued by the CSC to a person who has been granted career service eligibility by the Commission and thus whose name is included in the register of eligibles. Eligibility is one of the minimum requirements for permanent appointment to government service.

Upon verification of the examination records, the CSC discovered that the COE presented by Ubias was fake, since there was no career service professional examination conducted on that date and location.

Ubias was escorted to the CSC’s Office for Legal Affairs, which further inspected the COE and found that several features of the document were inconsistent with those of a real COE.

Ubias later voluntarily disclosed that his COE was “made in Recto,” referring to C.M. Recto Avenue in Manila, where counterfeit diplomas, certificates, and professional licenses are being sold.

He was brought to the Quezon City Police District Station 6 and detained while awaiting trial for violation of Republic Act 9416.

CSC Chairman Francisco Duque III condemned Ubias’ act and stressed that entrance to government service should only be based on merit and fitness.

“For the past decades, we have instituted stringent measures to protect the integrity of the CSC exams. The public deserves a bureaucracy composed of competent and honest workers, not of misfits and cheats,” Duque said.

He added that hundreds of government workers have been dismissed from the service after being found in possession of fake eligibility and spurious school credentials.

RA 9416, signed into law on March 25, 2007, declares unlawful and penalizes any form of cheating in civil service examinations, including unauthorized use and possession of CSC examination-related materials, impersonation, use of codigo or crib sheet, and possession and use of fake COE.

Any person convicted of violation of RA 9416 shall be penalized with a minimum jail time of six years and one day to a maximum of 12 years, a fine of not less than P50,000 and accessory penalties.

Accessory penalties for an offender who is a government employee include dismissal from the service, forfeiture of retirement benefits, cancellation of eligibility, bar from taking any civil service examination, and perpetual disqualification from government service.

If the offender is a private individual, he or she shall be perpetually barred from entering government service and from taking any civil service examination.