Two foreign women from the Philippines, aged 29, have been sentenced to jail for submitting false university certificates to the Singapore Ministry of Manpower (MOM) in a bid to secure employment passes and work legally in Singapore.
Torres Alyssa Riva Fernan received a four-week jail term, while Conol Almira Joy Torres was sentenced to six weeks, according to The Straits Times.
Fernan pleaded guilty to one charge under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act, and Torres admitted to a similar offence, with two additional charges taken into consideration during sentencing.
The women’s deception went unnoticed for 15 months, during which they continued working for CL Enterprise, a company operating multiple Mr Fix retail outlets that sell kitchenware and appliances. Their employment was only discovered after MOM conducted a random inspection of CL Enterprise.
MOM’s prosecuting officer, Teo Sijing, emphasized that their misconduct deprived other job seekers of employment opportunities by misleading authorities.
The case originated around September 2020 when Torres contacted an unidentified Philippine agent known as “Cory” to find a new job after her previous employment ended, as per the report.
Cory presented Torres with a job opportunity as an assistant sales manager with a monthly salary of $2,200.
Keen on securing the position, Torres attended the interview, and subsequently, CL Enterprise submitted an employment pass application for her.
In her application, Torres submitted a forged bachelor’s degree certificate claiming to have graduated from Ateneo De Manila University in the Philippines, and signed a declaration affirming its authenticity. She also falsely stated her monthly salary as $5,800, under Cory’s instructions, believing such details were necessary for the success of her application.
Fernan learned about the job opportunity through a relative in the Philippines and paid Cory $4,500 to process her application. She was hired as an assistant operations manager at CL Enterprise after an interview, and similarly submitted a forged degree certificate from De La Salle University in Manila, along with a signed declaration affirming her qualifications.
Both women worked at CL Enterprise from November 2020 until February 2022.
Their offenses were uncovered during the MOM inspection, which revealed that their submitted qualifications and salaries were fabricated.
MOM officials noted that had the authorities known the truth, the women would not have been granted the employment passes.
Court documents did not specify details of the MOM inspection.
According to ST, Mr. Teo from MOM stated that educational qualifications and salaries are key factors in deciding whether to approve an employment pass application.
According to the prosecutor, if the authorities had been aware that the information provided by the women was false, the passes would not have been issued to the pair.
Mr. Teo also mentioned, “The sentence sought would impose a strong deterrent message to offenders who seek to exploit the work pass system by making false statements and creating backdoors to facilitate illegal employment.”
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