BACOLOD City – Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez wanted to strengthen the issuance of government documents following the arrest of a fugitive Indian national in this city who was issued a driver’s license by the Land Transportation Office (LTO).
“The integrity of our official government identification cards (IDs), in this case the driver’s license, is in question,” said Mayor Benitez.
He said the city government would strengthen documentation by having a quick response (QR) code system to avoid fabrication of fake government documents.
“So we will proceed in the same manner with our business permits. After we have found out that there were some fake business permits, we placed QR codes on vital documents,” Mayor Benitez said.
With the QR codes, it is easier to validate whether the issued documents are authentic or not.
As to how the fugitive has entered the city, the mayor said he has a standing order to the city police that they should always be on top of the security situation.
For his part, Joseph Danoy, chief of the LTO-Bacolod Licensing Center, confirmed that LTO-Bacolod had issued the driver’s license to Joginder Geong under the name of Kant Gupta, bearing a Filipino nationality, and with address at City Heights Subdivision, Barangay Taculing, Bacolod City.
He said Gupta [Geong] applied for a driver’s license through the LTO portal.
“The only mistake was in the encoding of Gupta’s data. His passport shows he is a Nepalese but it was mistakenly encoded in the portal that he is a Filipino citizen,” Danoy said, adding that he was not yet assigned in the city when the driver’s license was issued to Gupta (Geong).
Indian national Geong, 40, was arrested on July 9 at Santa Lucia Gardens Subdivision, Barangay Taculing here under charges of violating Philippine immigration laws and being a fugitive from justice.
Geong, who has been living under the assumed name Kant Gupta with a counterfeit Nepalese passport, was apprehended by the Bacolod City Police Station 6, led by Police Captain Dax Santillan, and various police units.
Authorities revealed that Geong is a notorious criminal wanted in India for multiple serious offenses, including murder, attempted murder, extortion, robbery, and has even been sentenced to life imprisonment for violating arms laws in his home country./PN
