THE Bureau of Immigration (BI) has warned foreigners against online scams offering facilitation of Philippine entry visas.
Meanwhile, the Court of Appeals (CA) convicted an immigration official and five employees as administratively liable for their part in the so-called “pastillas” bribery mess.
In raising the warning, Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco cited multiple reports about foreign nationals being offered Philippine entry visas for as much as P20,000.
“We have received information that these unscrupulous individuals offer their services in securing visas, and issue orders purportedly coming from the BI,” Tansingco said.
Tansingco said the scammers used the BI logo, and represented themselves as personnel of the Philippine Consulate in Australia.
Citing an incident, Tansingco said the scammers instructed an applicant to pay, via money transfer, for their services. “That is a major red flag that’s why the applicant reported the incident to us,” he said.
“We have close coordination with the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC), and these kinds of online scams are considered cybercrime,” he stressed.
He urged to the public to report such incidents. “Do not deal with these scammers. If you encounter similar modus online, report it immediately to the BI and other law enforcement agencies,” the BI chief said.
The CA’s Fifth Division affirmed the Ombudsman’s March 21, 2022 decision convicting the respondents for grave misconduct and conduct prejudicial to the best interests of the service.
The appellate court denied the appeal of BI Travel Control and Enforcement Unit members Chevy Chase Naniong, Deon Albao, Daniel Binsol, and Fidel Mendoza, who controlled and managed the scheme and had contacts with the involved foreign nationals.
The scam, which was exposed in 2020, involved airport immigration officers who allowed the entry of Chinese passengers and other foreigners without screening by the B) in exchange for bribes.
The bribe money, which reportedly reached as much as P10,000 per passenger, are rolled to look like pastillas, a milk-based soft candy.
The 28-page decision promulgated June 29 and made public Monday also modified the Ombudsman ruling against Grifton Medina, then the acting chief of the Ports Operations Division (POD), who was instead found guilty of simple neglect of duty and ordered suspended for six months.
Medina was found liable for failing to act on the scam.
“To the Court, these allegations sufficiently depicted an omission to perform as necessitated by circumstances and substantiated a charge of neglect of duty,” read the CA decision on Medina.
In June last year, the Ombudsman ordered the dismissal of 45 BI employees “for grave misconduct and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service” and were meted the penalty of dismissal from the service.
“The power of a state to exclude aliens from its territory is an essential exercise of jurisdiction over its own territory. It is part of a state’s independence. The issue of immigration or entry of foreigners into the country is not a simple administrative matter that may be brushed aside by the government and the public,” the Ombudsman ruling stated.
Those who were separated from public office before the Ombudsman decision were fined the equivalent of one year’s salary.
The POD, which runs BI offices in the seaports and airports, was deactivated in February as part of efforts to reform the agency and decentralize its operations.