Panelo: Morente not yet off the hook over ‘pastillas’

Jaime Morente —LYN RILLON

Embattled Bureau of Immigration (BI) Commissioner Jaime Morente could still be axed over the “pastillas scheme” at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) even if no less than President Duterte has vouched that he is a “good man,” according to presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo.

Panelo pointed out that in the past, the President fired officials who were his friends and allies due to allegations of corruption and incompetence.

“It’s the same here. If you are incompetent, he will fire you. If you are corrupt, he will fire you. That is precisely why he said, ‘We will take up the case of Morente, the commissioner, and the way he ran his office in the next Cabinet meeting,’” Panelo said on Friday in an interview on ABS-CBN News Channel.

The BI and Morente came under scrutiny after it was disclosed during Senate hearings this week that many airport immigration officers have been allowing the illegal entry of Chinese workers for Philippine offshore gaming operators (Pogos) without permits.

The scheme was called as such because the payoff money of P10,000 per head was rolled like a “pastilla,” the popular milk-based candy.

Sen. Risa Hontiveros, who opened an investigation of corruption and crimes linked to Pogo operations estimated that those involved in the scheme could have collected as much as P10 billion in payoffs since 2016.

“Anybody is not safe,” Panelo said. “Everybody is at the pleasure of the President. If you do something illegal, if you do something incompetent, the President fires you.”

Duterte’s ‘good man’

On Thursday night, the President expressed support for Morente, who had served as one of his police chiefs when he was mayor of Davao City.

“Morente, I love him … he is a good man,” he said in a speech to police officers in Davao City on Thursday night.

But Panelo said “everyone is not off the hook.”

“The confidence [in Morente] is there until a contrary statement is made by the President,” he said.

“There’s no connection between the love and friendship to your job, to your duties,” Panelo said.

Morente’s performance will be “assessed” in the next Cabinet meeting, or once the President receives a report on Morente’s management of the BI.

“Maybe the President will wait for a report. That’s how the President does it. If there are reports against someone, he immediately orders an investigation,” Panelo said.

Whistleblower enters WPP

Morente on Tuesday ordered five immigration officers at Naia removed from the posts for “command responsibility.”

On orders of the President, the BI relieved 19 more immigration personnel of their duties on Thursday.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said not all the Chinese identified on a list submitted to the Senate as those who had received “VIP treatment” from corrupt immigration officers would be deported.

“If the Chinese nationals named in the list turn out to be improperly documented, they will be deported immediately. But if they are legitimate, but were merely extended ‘escort service’ by some immigration personnel for a fee, then it’s the latter who will be dealt with accordingly,” Guevarra told reporters on Friday.

He also said the pastillas whistleblower Allison “Alex” Chiong, an immigration officer who exposed the scheme and had received death threats, has been provisionally admitted into the witness protection program (WPP) of the Department of Justice.

Security concerns

“We took him in upon the request of [senators] due to security concerns,” Guevarra said. “He will be evaluated thoroughly by the WPP before he could be considered for full coverage.”

Guevarra said the BI’s reports on the racket have been referred to the National Bureau of Investigation which is conducting a probe.

He backed Morente’s call for amendments to the immigration law to give the immigration commissioner more power to remove corrupt employees.

“In the meantime, the BI leadership should exert greater efforts to address the culture of corruption in the bureau,” Guevarra said.

Red-carpet treatment

Sen. Joel Villanueva said that with the payoffs at Naia, many Chinese criminals could have entered the country.

“They were probably given the red carpet treatment by our very own immigration personnel involved in this pastillas scam,” Villanueva said in a Viber message to the Inquirer.

“[I] suspect there are many more fugitives out there, given how long this racket [has] been going on. We find the claims of the eyewitness to be disturbing,” he added, referring to Chiong’s Senate testimony on Thursday.

Sen. Francis Pangilinan said Chiong’s testimony only proved Morente’s “incompetence, which means that this administration supports and condones incompetence, if not corruption to the tune of billions of pesos.”

“Until they are held liable, will we see more or less corrupt [public officials] like them?” Pangilinan asked.

Chiong testified that syndicates operating at Naia were competing against each other to gain favor with travel agencies, which provided the names of Chinese who were willing to pay for VIP treatment.

Widespread racket

Chiong said nine out of 10 immigration personnel were involved in the racket and admitted he was one of them. He said he had a change of heart and decided to speak up because he felt that his fellow BI workers “have been enslaved by this corrupt system.”

Casino high rollers also were targeted, each paying P2,000 to fast-track their entry into the country, Chiong said.

When the number of arrivals from China began to rise in 2017, corrupt immigration officers received through a Viber chat group the names of Chinese travelers who would pay to skip the normal immigration screening. Each officer involved at Naia Terminal 1 received P20,000 weekly, and P8,000 weekly for those at Terminal 3, he said.

Chiong also said “special arrangements” allowed Chinese with derogatory records to enter the country. The rate for these arrangements was around P50,000 to P200,000 per head and the “package” includes hassle-free departure, he said. —WITH REPORTS FROM MARLON RAMOS AND JEROME ANING