Geron named new Immigration chief

MALACAÑANG has appointed Deputy Executive Secretary Ronaldo A. Geron as new head of the Bureau of Immigration replacing Siegfred B. Mison.

In a text message, Department of Justice (DOJ) Undersecretary and Spokesman Emmanuel Caparas said Geron took his oath last Jan. 6, 2016.

The Bureau of Immigration is an attached agency of the DOJ.

Geron also served as provincial administrator in Batangas.

Mison is facing administrative charges for the repeated escape of a Korean fugitive from detention 22 days apart last year, a report that comes just as his alleged involvement in irregular activities within the BI is known to have reached President Aquino.

The National Bureau of Investigation has found Mison liable for grave misconduct for allowing the “illegal” detention of Korean Cho Seongdae in a poorly secured room within the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces Compound (ISAFP) at the military headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo, a transfer that led to his second escape from custody on Oct. 21.

“Commissioner Mison’s administrative lapses results in grave misconduct,” read the 21-page report.

Cho, who is tagged in human trafficking and extortion activities, was transferred to ISAFP on Oct. 10, eleven days after he fled the Bureau of Immigration Warden Facility (BIWF) in Bicutan, Taguig City (Sept. 29) through an alleged P1-million payoff to immigration officers.

The Korean has been detained at the NBI headquarters in Manila since rearrested by BI and ISAFP operatives in Pagsanjan town in Laguna on Nov. 1.

He first fled on Sept. 29, when he was able to leave the BIWF in an escape allegedly arranged with BI personnel by a Korean friend.

Cho, also facing criminal cases in his homeland Korea, was arrested on Aug. 7 in an entrapment operation. He was placed under BI custody on Sept. 11.

In its final report submitted to the Department of Justice in December, the NBI also found 17 Bureau of Immigration (BI) and ISAFP guards and officers liable for criminal and administrative charges for Seongdae’s back-to-back escape, citing their negligence, lapses and refusal to fully cooperate with the investigation.

The report, forwarded by NBI Director Virgilio Mendez to the DOJ on Dec. 11, cited Mison’s lapses in allowing Cho’s detention at a military facility despite the lack of legal basis. With a report from Tarra Quismundo