Mayor’s Alleged Hidden Past: Allegations of Fake Citizenship Shake Pagadian City

A storm of controversy is brewing over Samuel Co, the longtime mayor of Pagadian City, as new revelations surface suggesting he may have lived under a falsified identity — raising profound questions about legitimacy, public trust and the future of governance in the city he has led for decades.

According to an investigative report by the Billionary News Channel (BNC), credible but conflicting documentation points to a possible discrepancy in Mayor Co’s claimed Filipino citizenship. The channel claims to have unearthed a trail of paperwork — birth certificates, family records, and cemetery registers — that shows diverging stories about his origins and parental ancestry, stirring a political and social uproar in Zamboanga Peninsula.

The crux of the controversy lies in the birth and nationality records of Samuel Co and his siblings. BNC reports that on his supposedly original birth certificate, his older brother’s nationality is listed as “Chinese,” and both parents are said to be born in China. Worse, BNC’s attempts to locate a claimed birthplace — “Klinika Santo Niño” in Barangay Santo Niño, Pagadian — yielded nothing. Residents say no such clinic ever existed in the barangay; no official registry or map shows its name or location.

Further complicating the narrative is a second birth certificate, belonging to another sibling, in which the “Chinese” nationality and Chinese birthplace fields have allegedly been altered to “Filipino.” Documents indicate the parents were once interred in a Chinese cemetery in Pagadian — evidence BNC claims undermines the official story of a pure Filipino lineage.

When approached for comment, Mayor Co reportedly maintained that he is Filipino, asserting that his parents were already Philippine citizens at the time of his birth. The BNC says it remains open to receiving additional documentation from him to support that claim. For now, the channel emphasizes, the conflicting records raise far more questions than answers.

Pagadian City — once a quiet coastal municipality — has grown in economic and political importance under Mayor Co’s long tenure. Over the years, business interests tied to his name multiplied, expanding beyond local projects to ventures in neighboring Ozamiz and Iligan. Supporters say his rule brought stability and development; critics now warn it might have been built on deception.

The shockwaves from the BNC report reach beyond personal identity. If proven true, the allegations could carry serious implications under Philippine law, possibly disqualifying Co from public office and invalidating official acts taken under his mayorship. Observers say the case could set a powerful precedent for checking authenticity of citizenship claims among public officials.

Moreover, the timing of the revelations adds political weight. In the most recent election, Mayor Co ran against a former provincial governor — a clash observers branded as a test of entrenched political dynasties. The exposure of his murky personal history threatens to unravel the public’s trust in both him and the system that allowed such candidacy.

Beyond legality, the scandal touches visceral themes: identity, belonging, and social legitimacy. For many residents, the idea that someone they placed their hopes in might have concealed origin stories feels like a betrayal. Others fear that regardless of the truth, the spectacle will tarnish the city’s reputation and hinder future progress.

Activists and civil society leaders in Pagadian have started calling for an independent inquiry, suggesting that the government — perhaps through the Commission on Elections or civil registry offices — should audit and verify the authenticity of all relevant documents linked to Mayor Co’s birth and naturalization. Some demand a temporary suspension of his powers until the matter is resolved.

Those close to Co’s administration, however, caution against jumping to conclusions. They point out that altered entries in older documents could stem from clerical mistakes, bureaucratic lapses, or retroactive legal changes, not necessarily deliberate fraud. They argue that a person’s current public service and performance should not be discredited solely on the basis of paperwork discrepancies.

Still, the uproar has reignited long-simmering debates in the Philippines about foreign-born or foreign-descended individuals in leadership roles. The country’s colonial past, waves of immigration, and diasporic communities have always complicated questions of citizenship and identity. In a sense, the Co case has become a mirror reflecting broader national anxieties over who qualifies to lead.

As of now, no court or official body has publicly initiated a formal investigation into the allegations, and Mayor Co remains in office. But public sentiment is shifting. Every business signed under his name, every city ordinance passed, now faces scrutiny. The city he governs is at a crossroads — between defending loyalty to an established leader and demanding transparency and truth.

What happens next could redefine politics in Pagadian City. If the allegations are disproven, Co’s legacy might survive, albeit scarred. If they hold up, they might end an era — and send a strong message across the nation about the importance of accountability, identity, and the silent power of paperwork. Either way, the people of Pagadian — and indeed the wider Filipino public — deserve clarity, closure and respect for the truth.

For now, the shadows growing over Pagadian reveal much more than one man’s past: they expose a deeper challenge facing communities across the country — reconciling official records with identity, legitimacy with power, and trust with public service.