More raps coming? Woman claims BI-7 gave her "used" receipt

A concerned citizen who claimed to be a liaison officer of an Australian has asked the Ombudsman Visayas to look into the alleged "recycling" of receipts at the Bureau of Immigration-7 that may have deprived the government of some of its supposed income.

The informant, a resident of Cabreros Street, barangay Basak, Cebu City, said that she was prompted to bring to the attention of the ombudsman her own experience at the BI following reports about the alleged anomalies in the said government agency.

The informant said one of her duties is to apply and follow-up the extension of her Australian employer's tourist visa. She said last April 6 she applied for a two-month extension on behalf of her employer.

A confidential agent and long-time driver of BI-7 regional director Geronimo Rosas, Fred Suico, allegedly entertained her. Suico allegedly gave her a temporary order of payment slip showing the total amount to be paid is P7,070.

The informant said she gave P7,500 to Suico as payment and had her employer's passport marked with the BI rubberstamp extending his stay for two months. To her surprise, the informant said the receipts of the payment she made were all recycled.

"When I received and examined the officials receipts, I noticed with surprise that there were many erasures, alterations and super-impositions on the said receipts," she said, adding that there were also items in the receipt that are not supposed to be charged.

"These receipts were recycled, meaning that these receipts were issued to a different foreigner and was used again as official receipt for the payment I made," she concluded.

The informant said Rosas' signing the passport of her employer even if the receipts were clearly recycled only means that the official has personal knowledge of the illegal activity.

This is the second complaint filed against Rosas before the Ombudsman on the alleged anomalies at the BI-7.

Meanwhile, the BI-7 legal chief yesterday said that the alleged human smuggling that is now being investigated by the Department of Justice is "remotely possible."

Brandon Enad said that airlines themselves disallow passengers who are undocumented for they will be fined $50,000, if they do otherwise.

It was alleged that immigration officers are paid P400,000 to P600,000 to "overlook" people with invalid passports, but Enad said if it is true the particular immigration officers should be named.

"This is clearly a made-up story not substantiated with proof, only to malign the reputation of the office," Enad said.

Several issues are now being raised against the local immigration officers, one of the allegations mentioned pertains to a certain Jasbir Singh, an Indian, who was allegedly arrested and detained illegally and threatened to be deported by immigration personnel unless he gave them money.

Enad said that such an allegation is scant of merit for Singh was never arrested by BI but by the National Bureau of Investigation who turned Singh over to them last January 20 for the verification of his immigration status.

Rosas added that they are waiting for more complaints to be filed so that they can answer them - Gregg M. Rubio and Fred P. Languido/BRP