No lawmaker in Wang Bo caper—immigration chief

Bureau of Immigration commissioner Siegfred Mison and his associates Abdullah Mangotara and Gilberto Repizo swear to tell the truth before denying involvement on the alleged payoffs to the bureau and to lawmakers from accused Chinese criminal Wang Bo. MARC CAYABYAB/INQUIRER.net

Bureau of Immigration (BI) commissioner Siegfred Mison on Tuesday denied that any member of the House of Representatives was involved in the deportation case of a Chinese fugitive named Wang Bo.

A newspaper report has linked Wang Bo to the alleged bribery of lawmakers in exchange for their support for the proposed Bangsamoro basic law (BBL).

During the House probe on the purported BBL bribe, Mison denied that he received any money for the release of Wang Bo, who supposedly paid off the Immigration Bureau for his release.

Mison claimed in media interviews that he had recommended the deportation of the Chinese fugitive but it was blocked by other BI officials.

“No political party or no member of this Honorable institution was or is involved or in anyway connected to the case of Wang Bo which the deportation case was a normal proceeding in the bureau,” Mison said.

“Let me finally state for the record that I categorically deny with the strongest conviction that I solicited or accepted… I am a firm believer of the policy of President Aquino’a tuwid na daan,” he added.

A report by The Standard alleged that P440 million were allocated to pay off 292 lawmakers in the lower chamber – or P1.5 million for each lawmaker – for their vote for the BBL.

The newspaper report said the funds came from Wang Bo who allegedly paid the BI P100 million to secure his release after the bureau ordered his deportation.

Wang Bo is allegedly wanted in China for embezzling $100 million and is suspected of opening casinos for transnational gambling.

The report said bags of cash were unloaded at the rear entrance of the House of Representatives and these were taken to the office of Speaker Belmonte.

The report said the CCTV footage of the incident which supposedly occurred last Monday to Wednesday was overwritten.

For his part, Associate Commissioner Abdullah Mangotara denied that he facilitated the BBL payola by meeting with Wang Bo’s representative before the issuance of the release order.

“I deny any meeting with any representatives or counsels of Wang Bo… I further deny naming (Associate Commissioner Gilberto) Repizo as the culprit in the BBL payola scam,” Mangotara said.

He said he moved for the reversal of the deportation order because of the need to authenticate the documents pertaining to the criminal charges against Wang Bo.

Associate Commissioner Gilberto Repizo also denied that he gave the alleged BBL payola to President Aquino’s Liberal Party treasurer Oriental Mindoro governor Alfonso Umali, who is the brother of Oriental Mindoro Representative Reynaldo Umali.

Repizo is reported to be Governor Umali’s personal lawyer.

In reading his letter to the editor to Standard, Repizo denied facilitating the payola to the Liberal Party treasurer allegedly for the administration party’s campaign fundraising.

“I object to the strongest in the strongest possible terms the insinuation linking resolution of the Bureau of Immigration to allegations of congressional pay-off to the Bangsamoro pay-off and Liberal Party fundraising campaign. The reporter’s story is baseless and unfounded,” Repizo said.

The BBL is facing rough passage after its main benefactor the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) got into an firefight with Special Action Force (SAF) troops last January 25 in a botched antiterror operation to take down terrorist Zulkilfi Bin Hir. The MILF also allegedly coddled Bin Hir in their territory.

The incident resulted in the death of 44 SAF troopers, 18 MILF fighters and five civilians in Mamasapano town, Maguindanao.

The bill seeks to create a more politically autonomous Bangsamoro region to implement the government peace deal with the MILF.