News Briefs

BI bars 3,500 foreigners from entering PH

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) barred from entering the country more than 3,500 foreign nationals during the first 10 months of the year, having deemed that their presence could be detrimental to national interest.

In a report to Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente, BI port operations division chief Grifton Medina disclosed that a total of 3,528 aliens of various nationalities were denied entry in different international airports nationwide.

Medina said that most of the aliens, nearly 3,000 of them, were turned away at Ninoy Aquino International Airport, while the rest were intercepted in the airports of Mactan, Clark, Kalibo, Aklan and Davao.

BI records showed that Chinese nationals topped the list, followed by Indians, Americans and 138 Koreans.

Among them were registered sex offenders, wanted fugitives, suspected terrorists, blacklisted foreigners and previously deported aliens. —TINA G. SANTOS

COA orders Samar solon to return P31M to gov’t

The Commission on Audit (COA) has ordered Samar Rep. Milagrosa Tan to return P30.93 million to the government over irregularities in the procurement of goods, medicines and electric fans in 2002 when she was the province’s governor.

In a seven-page decision, the COA denied Tan’s petition for review seeking to lift the notices of disallowance dated Dec. 11, 2006. Although the Legal Services Sector affirmed the notices on Nov. 10, 2009, Tan belatedly received the decision in June 2015.

COA Chair Michael Aguinaldo and Commissioners Jose Fabia and Roland Pondoc affirmed the sufficiency of the evidence uncovered by a special audit team. The team found a lack of proper bidding documentation, glaring inconsistencies in the dates of supporting documents, and unlawful splitting of purchase orders. —VINCE F. NONATO

Former Lanao del Sur bookkeeper acquitted

The Sandiganbayan has acquitted a former municipal bookkeeper of Ditsaan-Ramain, Lanao del Sur, of criminal charges over his alleged failure to remit employee contributions totaling P447,440.28 to the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) from January to July 2002.

In an 18-page decision, the court’s Second Division cited the lack of proof of bad faith on the part of senior bookkeeper Umbay Pangcoga Batua-an in acquitting him of seven counts each of graft and violation of Section 52(g) of the GSIS Act of 1997. —VINCE F. NONATO