Metro Briefs: Jan. 22, 2019
BI nabs ex-Taiwanese official wanted for game fixing
The Bureau of Immigration (BI) is deporting another former high-ranking foreign government official wanted in his country for his alleged involvement in a major baseball fixing case.
Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente said Taiwanese national Wu Chien Pao, 68, would be deported for being an undesirable and undocumented alien.
His Taiwanese passport expired in April 2017. Morente said the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Manila had identified Wu as a former government official who held the post of speaker of Tainan County.
He has been wanted for fraud since October 2014.
According to BI, Taiwanese news outlets described his offense as “one of the largest issues to hit Taiwanese baseball.”
He was accused of fixing the results of Chinese Professional Baseball League games involving popular players in collusion with illegal gambling syndicates.
Wu was arrested on Jan. 16 at the Subic Freeport Zone in Zambales province by operatives of the BI’s Fugitive Search Unit (FSU).
Wu’s arrest came only three days after BI-FSU agents arrested Xie Haojie, a former ranking Chinese government official wanted in his country for corruption and economic crimes.
Both Wu and Xie will be included in the immigration blacklist to prevent them from reentering the Philippines, the BI said. —Tina G. Santos
Maynilad opens 22nd sewage treatment plant in Parañaque
Maynilad Water Services Inc. has started operating its newly built P1.7-billion sewage treatment plant (STP) in San Dionisio, Parañaque City, as part of its efforts to help the government clean up Manila Bay.
“Building new STPs is in line with this initiative, and the Parañaque Water Reclamation Facility is now our 22nd wastewater treatment facility in the West Zone [concession area],” Maynilad president and chief executive Ramoncito S. Fernandez said in a statement.
The Parañaque project is part of the P23.3 billion that Maynilad has invested since 2007 to improve wastewater infrastructure in the western section of the metropolis.
The new STP can treat up to 76,000 cubic meters of wastewater daily, serving about 500,000 households in Barangays San Dionisio, Sto. Niño, San Isidro, Moonwalk, San Antonio, Marcelo Green, BF, La Huerta and Don Bosco. —Ronnel W. Domingo
