(MENAFN- The Peninsula)
DOHA: With authorities making it mandatory that marriage certificates be authenticated by government agencies back in Philippines, the practice of some Filipino men and women living-in together by organising fake marriage certificates is on the decline, says the embassy of the Philippines.
The certificates were illegally obtained, Vice-Consul at the embassy Jabbar Adiong told The Peninsula yesterday. For more than a year authorities here and in the home country have been trying to bring this illegal practice to an end.
The new policy requires married women working here to have their marriage certificates endorsed by the National Statistics Office, the Department of Foreign Affairs and even from the Office of the Philippine President in Malacaٌang.
It is no secret that some Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) arranged spurious marriage documents to cover up illicit relationships. The practice has been a social malady not only among overseas Filipinos in Qatar but in other GCC and Middle Eastern countries as well.
Adiong, however, said rarely did a spouse in the Philippines of a 'fake marriage practitioner' here lodge complaints with the embassy in Doha about the use of fake public documents when certificate authentication requirements had not yet been strictly enforced.
Before the new policy set in there were alarming cases of some OFWs using questionable documents, especially marriage certificates, in Saudi Arabia. The Philippine diplomatic missions there had warned overseas Filipinos to avoid such illegal practices.
Embassy officials in Saudi Arabia were alarmed by the issuance of fake public documents and thought some OFWs might be falling prey to fixers and syndicates in Manila.
Meanwhile, Adiong said there has been a decline among single Filipinos getting married at the Embassy here last month as compared to the same period last year. He said during peak periods like July, November and December, marriages solemnised at the Embassy shot up to an average seven a week.
He said during normal months, he usually solemnised marriages at the Embassy at an average of 20.
By CHRIS V PANGANIBAN
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