Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Justice office confirms immigration anomalies
By Rose O. Versoza
CEBU CITY -- Human trafficking happens at the Bureau of Immigration (BI) 7, said Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez Sr.
This is why he ordered the investigation on the bureau.
Assistant Cebu City Prosecutor Mary Ann Castro is also being investigated for alleged "meddling" in the bureau's affairs.
She denied doing such a thing.
Castro was detailed at the BI 7 to assist the bureau in administrative affairs, but the justice secretary recently revoked her detail order.
In an interview over radio dyLA, Gonzalez confirmed Monday that the number one problem in BI 7 is the alleged human smuggling by some of the agents.
"Nagiging tilang extortion ang lumalabas sa ibang arrests (Some arrests seem to involve extortion)," he said.
The investigation was prompted by a letter-complaint addressed to Gonzalez's office regarding the issue of trafficking of foreigners, notably Indian nationals and Pakistanis.
In a separate interview, lawyer Brandon Enad of the Bureau of Immigration (BI) 7 said human smuggling at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport is a remote possibility because, in the first place, the airlines do not allow undocumented passengers to board as it carries a $50,000 fine.
Enad said that while BI 7 has no control of the airport check-in area, agents of the Presidential Task Force Against Human Trafficking are assigned there.
"It's easy to make allegations of human trafficking but it's hard to substantiate especially that Malacañang has already assigned a permanent group to monitor human trafficking," Enad said.
He also clarified that Japanese national Junji Kawashima was not arrested and detained, as alleged by his lawyer Jasmine Oporto.
Enad said there is a verified complaint executed by Kawashima's staff, Myrna Binabinte that several Japanese nationals are going in and out of his (Kawashima's) residence and she believes the Japanese engaged in a tour guide business, a possible violation of his stay as a tourist.
Enad furnished Sun.Star Cebu the copy of the letter of explanation sent by BI 7 Director Geronimo Rosas to lawyer Edgardo Mendoza, chief of the immigration regulation division.
In the letter, Rosas said that acting on the complaint and pursuant to the resolutions passed by the Cebu City Council and the Cebu Provincial Board urging BI to crackdown on illegal aliens, he issued a memorandum order dated July 21, 2006 to verify the immigration status of Kawashima.
Rosas said that after Kawashima denied violating any law, he and Oporto left the BI 7 office.
Aside from the Oporto's letter-complaint, Lucille Mendoza-Singh, Filipina wife of Indian national Jasbir Singh, also wrote Secretary Gonzalez about the alleged bribery in the BI 7.
She said she and her husband used to pay the bureau monthly payola to prevent Jasbir from being deported.
This monthly payment is on top of the P400,000 they allegedly paid the bureau to enter the country.
After the Singh couple stopped paying because their business became unstable, Lucille said her husband was taken to Bicutan, Manila for detention and investigation.
"There are people I have found to have been detained in Bicutan.... That is the reason many embassies are complaining also about actions of the bureau," said Gonzalez.
The justice secretary said that he will also put a stop to the proliferation of bogus mission orders.
This refers to a practice wherein foreigners are arrested and investigated to verify their travel or immigration documents. The arrest will be based on the mission orders, some of which, Gonzalez said, were "fake."
"I have even seen some recycled mission orders," Gonzalez said.
Oporto also wrote Gonzalez on the arrest of Kawashima, on the basis of a mission order and not on a verified complaint.
According to a report submitted to Gonzalez by a BI 7 insider, this is also a common scam in the bureau where the foreigner will be released after paying P200,000 to P300,000.
"That's why we are cleaning up this whole agency of corruption. Marami din tayong agents na matitino pero meron pa ring tayong mga ano (We have honest agents but some are not)," said Gonzalez.
He said controversies are not just happening in Region 7. In other regions, some agents were already penalized and relieved.
Castro, Gonzalez revealed, is among those being investigated.
"We are now looking into that but...Castro is, of course, just there (detailed at the BI 7), she is not supposed to meddle with the real business of the bureau," said Gonzalez.
But Castro is unaware of such investigation.
She told Sun.Star Cebu that she has not received any memorandum from the secretary to explain anything.
"That (meddling) is hearsay because, in the first place, I never conducted or engaged in any operation of the bureau," she told Sun.Star Cebu.
Castro was detailed at the bureau last November to assist in handling administrative cases as well as conduct investigations and hearings for visa applicants.
But in February, she said she received another order from the Department of Justice to also assist the bureau in all legal matters, including operations and investigations.
However, such functions were never put into action because it was allegedly blocked by BI 7 Director Rosas.
This could have prompted Gonzalez to revoke Castro's detail order at the bureau.
But Castro denied this, saying she asked to go back to her mother unit-the Cebu City Prosecutor's Office-because relationships within the bureau were "no longer good and harmonious."
She will be reporting at the prosecutor's office on Tuesday. (Sun.Star Cebu)
(August 22, 2006 issue)
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