CONCERNED employees of the Bureau of Immigration (BI) have asked Justice Secretary Leila M. de Lima to conduct an investigation into persistent allegations on the multimillion-peso “entry for a fee, fly for a fee” racket in the bureau.
The said racket allows undesirable aliens to enter or leave the country without fear of being arrested in exchange for a fee or bribe money.
The employees have also filed graft charges, among others, against Immigration Commissioner Siegfred B. Mison and several other immigration officials and personnel before the Ombudsman in relation to the anomaly.
“The justice department, through the National Bureau of Investigation, should look deeper into the anomaly even as graft charges have already been filed against Mison before the Office of the Ombudsman,” the employees said in a statement.
At the same time, the group also called on Mison to go on leave for delicadeza, pending results of the investigation.
Aside from the graft charges, Mison was also charged with violation of Republic Act (RA) 6713, or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees, violation of the Administrative Code of 1987; and violation of Commonwealth Act (CA) 613, or the Philippine Immigration Act
of 1940.
Charged along with Mison were two BI personnel identified only as Intelligence Officer Lunas and Travel Control and Enforcement Unit de Leon, a certain supervisor Ms. Mariano, a certain Border Management and Security Unit Flores, a certain Cayetano, Office of the Commissioner technical assistant Norman G. Tansingco and several other John and Jane Does.
The case against Mison and company stemmed from the illegal lifting from the bureau’s “blacklist order” of Yuan Jian Chua, alias Wilson Ong Cheng, a Chinese. The complaint was filed before the Ombudsman on April 21, by Immigration Intelligence Officer Ricardo D.L. Cabochan.
In his 14-page complaint-affidavit, Cabochan claimed that Yuan was arrested by immigration officials on November 6, 2013, in Cebu City and deported on January 22, 2014, for being an undocumented alien and “fraudulently representing himself to be Philippine citizens” to evade the requirements of immigration laws.
As a consequence, the Chinese’s name was also included on the immigration’s blacklist, which barred him from reentering the country for at least one year.
On March 11 Yuan arrived at the Ninoy Aquino Internatioal Airport (Naia) 1 but was denied entry and excluded for reasons that his name was on the BI’s blacklist.
But an hour later, after Yuan arrived, he was allowed entry allegedly upon instruction by a certain “SBM.”
“…Records from the Centralized Query Supports System [CQSS] confirm that he was allowed only on the sole basis that the terminal head, in the person of Maria Rhodora T. Abrazaldo, were verbally instructed by a certain ‘SBM’ through a certain ‘Atty. Tansinco,’” the document said.
“‘SBM’ is the customary and official designation-appellation clearly referring to Commissioner Siegfried B. Mison, while the name ‘Atty. Tansingco’ refers to Atty. Norman G. Tansingco, technical staffmember of the Office of the Commissioner,” the complaint added.
The complainant further alleged that a verification made with the CQSS on March 19, or eight days from the time the Chinese was allowed entry on March 11, showed that the blacklist order issued against the said subject remains “active,” which means that it has not yet been lifted or canceled.