Senate deputy minority leader Risa Hontiveros warned on Tuesday, March 4, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) that she will press for a total revamp of the agency, starting from its commissioner, if the agency continues to fail to provide answers on the mystery of how former Bamban, Tarlac mayor Alice Guo and her siblings managed to escape the Philippines.
This, after BI Intelligence Division chief Fortunato Manahan admitted that the agency is still clueless about how Guo, also known as Guo Hua Ping, and her siblings were able to flee the country at the height of Congress’ investigation into her involvement in the illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) hub in Bamban.
This revelation dismayed Hontiveros, leading her to issue an ultimatum to the BI.
“To (BI) Commissioner (Joel) Viado, of the Bureau of Immigration, with all due respect, please consider this an ultimatum,” Hontiveros said during the Senate subpanel’s hearing on the issue.
“If no satisfactory answers on these matters are provided by the BI within 15 days—as designated chair of the subcommittee of the Committee of Justice, I will call for a revamp of the BI in the committee report of this subcommittee. A revamp starting from the Commissioner himself,” she stressed.
Hontiveros said it is unacceptable that a high-profile fugitive was able to escape the country and the agency that should have been investigating it seems to be only waiting for answers from their counterparts from other countries.
“Even more concerning—the President himself declared that ‘heads will roll’ because of Guo’s escape. Yet BI’s response to this committee seems to me there was no internal investigation done by the agency to ascertain who were responsible or if Guo was able to leave with the help of anyone from its ranks,” she lamented.
Hontiveros also pointed out that it has been four months since the Guos escaped but the BI could also not identify at what port or coast in the Philippines did the siblings, Alice, Shiela and Wesley Guo, managed to go to following their claim of daring to escape by sea.
“Because if we just stop at this status, we’re inutile as a country. It’s been four months, and we still don’t know how fugitives managed to slip past our borders undetected?“ she said.
Hontiveros addressed her frustrations to BI Intelligence Division chief Fortunato Manahan. Viado was not present during the hearing. (Hannah Torregoza)
