Commissioner Jaime Morente of the Bureau of Immigration (BI) ordered yesterday a total reshuffle of all personnel assigned at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) following the so-called “pastillas” scheme involving officers assigned there.
The revamp covered some 500 immigration officers (IOs) at three terminals of the premier port.
However, port operations division chief Grifton Medina was retained, leaving his fate to Justice Secretary Meynardo Guevara who signed his appointment.
The BI is an attached agency of the Department of Justice.
Morente said the personnel movement was in compliance with the directive of President Duterte whose intelligence sources confirmed the bribery scam.
Whistleblower and IO Allison Chiong told the Senate inquiry that he and some of his colleagues received bribed money from tour operators to facilitate the entry of Chinese tourists to work at the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO).
The BI chief said “these changes are part of the on-going efforts to address the recent resurgence of irregularities.”
He added that the management activated new protocols in the conduct of second inspection of travelers in open areas for transparency and installed more CCTV cameras to monitor activities of IOs.
Morente assured the public that those linked to the racket have already been placed under administrative custody with cancelled privileges.
“But we are duty bound to observe due process as we bring said accused to the courts of justice,” he added.
Likewise, Morente sought the assistance of the National Bureau of Investigation in expanding the probe to include private entities that act as recruiters of aliens as mentioned in the Senate probe. (Jun Ramirez)
