Wednesday, March 05, 2008 Immigration director sacked
THE anti-graft office has dismissed Bureau of Immigration (BI) 7 Director Geronimo Rosas for grave misconduct in releasing, sometime in 2004, two detained Iranians who entered the country with fake passports.
Rosas, then the senior immigration official and alien control officer of the Cebu District Office, freed Jafar Saluti Taromsari and Jaliel Shokr Pour Ziveh after three days in jail.
Prior to their entry, the two had already been “excluded” from the Philippines.
Partiality, bad faith
“It is clear that respondent Rosas is guilty of graft misconduct as the release of the two Iranian nationals was tainted with irregularity and inconsistency with existing law,” read the resolution prepared by Graft Investigator Nelia Lagura.
“The act of unduly releasing the two Iranian nationals clearly shows his manifest partiality, evident bad faith and gross inexcusable negligence because he merely subjected them to an exclusion proceeding instead of filling the appropriate criminal charges,” the ruling, approved by Tanodbayan Merceditas Gutierrez, added.
Fake credentials
Rosas was charged together with security guards Elmer Napilot and Ramon Ugarte, who the anti-graft office cleared for lack of evidence supporting conspiracy.
The complaint, in turn, was filed by the BI division office, which was then based at the Port of Cebu.
Taromsari and Ziveh entered the country on Dec. 7, 2004 via the Mactan-Cebu International Airport using a Mexican and Italian passport.
In the morning of Dec. 16, 2004, they were allowed to leave for Narita, Japan, using the very same travel credentials.
Returned to Cebu
They were immediately sent back to Cebu by Japanese immigration authorities that did what Philippine immigration officials presumably failed to do—spot the forgery.
Still carrying the same forged passports, the Iranians were accompanied to the BI office from the airport by Rosas, Ugarte and two other unidentified employees.
Based on the logbook entry, they were placed in detention around 9 p.m. on Dec. 16.
Based on subsequent entries in the same logbook, Napilot and Ugarte, upon Rosas’ orders, released the two Iranians around 2:05 p.m. of Dec. 19.
Nominal complainants Dila-usan Montor and Imra-Ali M. Sabdullah said the two Iranians “could have been terrorists with evil designs using the Mactan-Cebu International Airport as transit point. At the very least, they added, they could be engaged in human smuggling.”
Whatever circumstances made them enter the country with fake passports, Rosas’ functions should have compelled him to thoroughly investigate the detainees or refer them to the intelligence department.
No prior information
In his defense, Rosas said he had no prior information as to the two Iranians’ entry to and exit from the airport.
He also attached a memorandum, addressed to then BI commissioner Alipio Fernandez, detailing the outcome of the investigation that he claimed to have done on the matter.
He said that because the “higher officers” and the immigration commissioner, who was informed of the investigation, found nothing wrong with what he did, there was nothing questionable about it.
“The defenses espoused by respondent Rosas to justify the anomalous circumstances attendant to the release of the two Iranian nationals are flawed and self-serving,” said the ruling.
“The allegations made by the complainant that the Iranian nationals were terrorists (or) involved in human smuggling are, to date, still unsubstantiated,” it said.
“Nevertheless, the mere fact that the two Iranian nationals were restricted aliens who illegally gained entry into the country and stayed on for nine days before they were allowed to leave for Japan still suing their counterfeit passports should have been sufficient to be more circumspect,” it said. (KNR)
