The Bureau of Immigration (BI) has alerted its personnel in all the international airports and seaports and instructed them to effect the arrest of Chinese businessman Jack Lam if he is seen arriving or leaving the country.
Lawyer Ma. Antonette Mangrobang, BI spokesperson, said Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente ordered the alert after Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa announced that the President wants Lam arrested for bribery and economic sabotage.
Mangrobang said Morente had also directed Marc Red Mariñas, BI port operations division (POD) chief, to turn over Lam to the PNP or the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) the moment he is encountered and apprehended by BI officers.
The BI’s alert order was issued even as the bureau disclosed that a certain Lam Yin Lok (Lam’s known Chinese name) had left the country last Nov. 29.
Mangrobang said the said passenger boarded a Cathay Pacific flight to Hongkong at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) last Tuesday.
“Our records also showed that after he arrived in Manila last Nov. 25 aboard a China Airlines flight from Taipei,” she said, adding that the BI has no record yet that Lam has returned since he departed.
It was learned that Lam uses a Subic-Clark Investor’s Visa (SCIV), a special visa issued by the government to foreign investors based at the Clark Freeport in Pampanga, which is now subject of cancellation proceedings before the bureau.
Nonetheless, Mangrobang said the bureau is not taking any chances as it was possible that Lam re-entered the country by other means or had used a different name or passport.
She said pictures of Lam have already transmitted to immigration officers at the different airports and seaports.
(JUN RAMIREZ)