2nd dismissal order for Rosas: Ombuds sacks ex-BI regional director

CEBU, Philippines – The Office of the Ombudsman has ordered the dismissal of a former regional director of the Bureau of Immigration in Central Visayas after he was found guilty of grave misconduct for extorting money from Chinese nationals in 2004.

In an eight-page decision, Overall Deputy Ombudsman Orlando Casimiro ordered the dismissal of Senior Immigration Officer Geronimo Rosas.

It was Rosas's second dismissal order from the anti-graft body because he was also ordered dismiss from service in 2008 after he was also found guilty of grave misconduct for allowing two Iranian nationals to enter the country using fake passports.

His previous dismissal however remains unimplemented because of his pending appeal.

Rosas' latest dismissal from service stemmed from the criminal complaint filed by businessman George Tan accusing the former immigration regional director in Central Visayas of demanding P200,000 from Chinese nationals Minwei Deng and Zhouzhi Cai.

The demand was allegedly made upon the arrival of the two Chinese nationals at the Mactan Cebu International Airport on November 13, 2006. Minwei and Zhouzi were asked by Tan to help in his prawn business as technicians.

The Chinese nationals however did not have working visas. Rosas allegedly threatened them of deportation if they will not pay P200,000. The accusation was proven by the testimony of Gabriel Andujar who witnesses when the demand was made.

Andujar was requested by Tan to assist the two Chinese nationals because they do not know how to speak english.

In 2008, Rosas was also dismissed from service after he allowed two Iranians to enter the country through Mactan using fake passports in December 7, 2004.

Based on the case record, Iranian nationals Jafar Saluti Taromasari and Jaliel Shokr Pour Ziveh were allowed entry in the country using tampered Italian and Mexican pass-ports.

They left for Narita, Japan on Dec. 16, 2004 but Japanese immigration authorities found their passports to be tampered. They went back to Mactan.

However, three days later they were "unlawfully" released despite their being considered "restricted" aliens who should have been investigated for being potential threat to national security. - /FPL (FREEMAN)