Duterte to retain BI chief; Aguirre stays
Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/MARIANNE BERMUDEZ
President Rodrigo Duterte is retaining Bureau of Immigration (BI) Commissioner Jaime Morente despite grumblings from Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II that he can’t work with the former Davao city police chief.
Morente had a meeting with the President during the Christmas break to explain his role in the P50-million bribe given by Chinese gaming tycoon Jack Lam to two Immigration commissioners which had prompted Aguirre to publicly call for a massive overhaul of the bureau to change its culture of corruption.
After meeting with the President, Aguirre said Morente spoke to him thrice in the last week of 2016 and offered to comply with his marching orders for the bureau, which is under the supervision of the Department of Justice.
“He (Morente) came over to my office. He’s offering his full cooperation with me after he went to the Palace,” said Aguirre.
Although Aguirre was adamant that the BI needed a massive makeover from the top, he said he was willing to work with Morente in deference to the President’s desire to retain him in the post.
“I have no personal grudge in this matter. I just applied the law. We have to work hand in hand so the problem of corruption can be solved,” said Aguirre.
But Aguirre said he would still seek a written explanation from Morente and his protégé, BI intelligence chief Charles Calima, who was fired by Aguirre for getting P18 million of the P50-million bribe money from Lam.
Aguirre also questioned Morente’s decision to turn over the P18 million to the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) rather than to National Bureau Investigation./rga
