Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra has clarified that the immigration officials whom President Rodrigo Duterte claimed to have “fired” have been reassigned to the BI’s main office, not at their previous assignments in the airport terminals.
TWO days after President Rodrigo Duterte claimed to have fired 43 personnel of the Bureau of Immigration (BI) due to the “pastillas” bribery scheme, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra admitted that the personnel involved have already “returned to work.”
However, Guevarra clarified that they have been reassigned to the BI’s main office, not at their previous assignments in the airport terminals.
“Those who were under job order arrangements have been terminated,” he added, in a message sent to reporters.
“The Office of the Ombudsman and the Department of Justice are winding up their investigations.”
The DOJ chief however stressed that investigations are still ongoing even if the immigration officials have returned to the bureau.
"The preliminary investigation being conducted by the Ombudsman is still going on. So is the administrative proceedings being conducted by the DOJ," he said.
Pastillas scam
The Justice secretary said the immigration officials have already served out their six-month suspension by the Office of the Ombudsman last October in relation to the “pastillas” scam.
The scam involved thousands of pesos allegedly paid by Chinese nationals to these officials at the country’s entry points as bribes to be allowed entry into the country without going through the usual process.
Senator Risa Hontiveros, who has been leading the Senate probe into the pastillas scheme, estimated that the racket coupled with the Immigration Bureau’s visa upon arrival system generated P40 billion worth of bribes.
The issue – coinciding with concerns over proliferations of Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) and security concerns over the country’s sovereignty – had garnered much controversy.
Last November, President Duterte summoned some 40 BI officers tagged in the scam to Malacañang, where he instructed his aide to distribute money wrapped in paper meant to resemble the Filipino dessert.
Duterte said he would have wanted the BI officers to eat money in front of him, but decided against it out of deference to Guevarra, who was present in the meeting.
Tags: #DepartmentOfJustice, #BureauOfImmigration, #pastillasscam