( CNN ) -- If you do n't have the time , inclination and , more importantly , the money to go to university in Manila , you can still get a degree . It will cost you between $ US10 and $ US60 , it will take about two hours to complete and it will be fake . Welcome to `` Recto University , '' the name Manila mockingly gives to the strip of document counterfeiters that openly ply their trade between Claro M. Recto and Rizal Avenues in the Philippines capital . Located a stone 's throw from Manila 's university district and , somewhat ironically , Manila City Jail , the counterfeiters of Recto can run off a university testamur , any type of diploma , a job reference and , more worryingly , a pilot 's license and a seaman 's certificate in a matter of hours . `` Today business is not so good , '' says a hawker sitting beside a makeshift sign displaying fake diplomas , driver 's licenses and job references that can be bought for as little as 500 pesos ( US $ 11.50 ) . `` If we do five documents a day , we 're doing well , '' he says smiling broadly . `` Sunday is our best day , because people start class or work the next day . Term time at the universities is much better for us than the semester break . `` Our business is tied to the academic year , '' he says . While degrees , licenses and identification from the Philippines are the counterfeiters ' strong suit -- and locals say they can even source testamur paper from the year you graduated for added authenticity -- they will attempt any type of foreign document . Could they do a Green Card , for example , or anything with a hologram ? The man turns to a fellow hawker next to his sign and , after a brief exchange in Tagalog , both nod emphatically . `` We can do anything if we 've got the original , '' he says . `` It depends how much you 're willing to pay . '' For students in Manila , the strip on Recto is a one-stop shop for term papers and end-of-year assignments . `` I once went to Recto with five other classmates and we paid to get term papers , '' said Cecilia Rohas , a former student at Polytechnic University of the Philippines . `` I needed 30 pages , double spaced , on the Philippines revolutionary movement under the Spanish and , sure enough , I got 30 pages , double-spaced , all with a bibliography at the back . `` I was too busy studying for the end-of-year exams to do the term paper . Everybody does it , '' says Ms Rohas . These days , she says , the operators on Recto have globalised operations , providing academic texts to order online . `` It 's becoming a good line for people in Manila that want to make a living by writing , '' she adds . `` I guess because of the high level of English in the Philippines it 's a good fit . '' While other 'diploma mill ' operators on the Recto strip operate openly and in full view of the law , the stallholder stands nervously to attention when two police saunter past his sandwich board . Crackdowns have become more frequent since Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim , nicknamed `` Dirty Harry '' for his tough stance with the national police , ordered a clean up of the ID mills several years ago . The stallholders on Recto rarely do the forgeries themselves , acting simply as runners to forgers who do the counterfeiting behind closed doors . In October , police raided one of the country 's most audacious scams ; an entire bogus government department that was collecting `` taxes '' using forged documents and IDs . While police suspect the fake presidential agency may have had their own , more sophisticated , in-house forgers who used the latest technology to produce their paperwork and identity cards , the standard of street counterfeits is getting better . The National Bureau of Investigation 's Questioned Documents Division is tight-lipped about the level of sophistication of the forgeries , but admits it 's a tough game keeping ahead of the counterfeiters . `` Are the counterfeiters improving ? Yes they are , '' says Carolyn Moldez-Pitoy , supervising document examiner with the National Bureau of Investigation . `` The good part is that we are also getting better at detecting them and that dissuades the forgers . ''
Manila 's fake diploma shop does a thriving business on Claro M. Reyes Avenue . Known jokingly as ' The Mint ' , forgers can mock up a degree in a matter of minutes . Counterfeiters also fake all types of IDs including seamans ' and pilots ' licenses . Manila police have launched several crackdowns but the illegal trade still continues .