By Hannah Torregoza
Senator Risa Hontiveros on Tuesday expressed her belief that an estimated P40 billion worth of kickbacks went to unscrupulous Bureau of Immigration (BI) officials who were involved in the Visa-Upon-Arrival (VUA) scheme and the so-called “pastillas” scam.
At the continuation of the Senate’s hearing on the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO)-related sex trafficking and prostitution, Hontiveros estimated that the amount stole by the “masterminds of a notorious business model” is already at P30 billion alone for the “pastillas” scam, based on the arrival data of Chinese nationals on non-VUA transactions. The rest goes straight to the pockets of higher officials who were somehow involved in the VUA — another revenue stream.
Based on the figures provided by the BI alone, the senator noted there have been about four million Chinese nationals who have entered the country since 2017.
“The numbers are staggering. For the sake of comparison, four million Chinese nationals arriving here since 2017 is comparable to more than the entire population of Quezon City,” Hontiveros said during the hearing.
“Kumbaga, bakit mas marami pa sa mga residente ng QC ang bilang ng Chinese na pinapapasok sa bansa? (Why do they allow such a huge number of Chinese nationals, more than the population of QC residents, in the country?),” Hontiveros lamented.
Of these four million Chinese nationals, around 3.8 million were non-VUA applicants while around 150,000 were VUA applicants, she pointed out.
She said around three million of these non-VUA applicants are believed to have paid the extra P10,000 service fee in the “pastillas” scheme. Whistleblowers Alex Chiong and Dale Ignacio have testified that masterminds of the scam take part of the bribe money.
Hontiveros said it is obvious that the bribe money goes straight to Marc Red Mariñas, the former BI Ports Operation Division (POD) chief and his father, Maynardo Mariñas, especially when it comes to questionable VUA transactions. The older Mariñas, she pointed out, heads the Special Operations Communications Unit which checks and audits the VUAs.
Chiong and Ignacio have both pointed to the two Mariñas as the masterminds in the “pastillas” scam, or the bribery scheme practiced by some BI officials who allowed Chinese nationals in the country without proper documents or permits for a fee.
“Tiba-tiba ang pamilyang Mariñas, pero nananatili pa din na tanong: Sino ang protector nila?,” she pointed out.
Nevertheless, Hontiveros said she welcomes the BI’s pronouncement that there are findings of grave misconduct against those involved in the “pastillas” scam.
“[With] grave misconduct comes the penalties of dismissal from office. I trust that the NBI will follow through and bring to justice all those responsible for lowering the drawbridge and draining the moat,” she said.
