Kidnap victim wants BI agent named

A victim of a kidnapping-for-ransom in 2001 wants the Bureau of Immigration to identify the immigration agent suspected of helping one of her abductors escape justice while on trial.

Immigration Commissioner Alipio Fernandez announced last week that the agent was relieved and put under investigation after kidnap victim Jackie Tiu complained to Malacañang about the escape of kidnap suspect Zhang Du, one of the seven Chinese nationals arrested.

Fernandez declined to identify the agent.

"I hope that Commissioner Fernandez would show sincerity by being transparent with the investigation and their actions on the issue," Tiu told the STAR.

"It is not enough to just sack the agent he’s been talking about. He should also file charges against him to prove that he is sincere when he said he never tolerated such suspicious activity."

Fernandez said the bureau will disclose the agent’s identity at the proper time depending on the results of the investigation.

They want to know if other bureau personnel or officials were involved in Zhang’s escape.

The agent was given until tomorrow to explain his side.

But Tiu was unconvinced. "If you want to clean your office and if you are really sincere in helping us, be transparent. We want to know the names of persons who helped Zhang. We want Zhang back to face justice," she said.

However, an immigration officer who identified himself as the agent under investigation, came forward yesterday to deny that he helped Zhang escape.

"As far as I’m concerned, I only followed procedures," said the officer, who identified himself as Allan Reyes.

He said Zhang was escorted by officers from the bureau’s civil security unit. Because of that he was not expected to examine Zhang’s travel papers, which were presented by Zhang’s escorts.

"When a deportation case comes to us with CSU escorts, we only stamp the papers. Our work then becomes ministerial in those cases," Reyes told The STAR in a telephone interview.

Zhang, alias Wilson Zhang, is one of the seven Chinese nationals accused in the high-profile Tiu kidnap-for-ransom case four years ago. He was deported despite a hold-departure order on him.

Zhang was deported on May 7 even though he was still facing trial at a regional trial court in Bauang, La Union.

Tiu learned about Zhang’s deportation after her father checked with the case officer on the case’s progress.

An initial investigation showed that an immigration bureau agent escorted Zhang from jail to the airport.

Zhang, whose charge was reduced from prime suspect to accomplice, was initially out on bail on the case against him. However, it was discovered during the trial that he was staying in the country illegally and was detained by the Bureau of Immigration in 2002.

It is suspected that Zhang walked out of jail using forged clearances from the National Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Immigration and the court purportedly allowing him to leave the country.

Mrs. Arroyo had ordered Interior Secretary Angelo Reyes, chief of the National Anti-Crime Task Force, to personally take charge of the investigation.

Reyes was also ordered to work with the Department of Foreign Affairs to have Zhang brought back to the Philippines. — With Jun Elias, Rainier Allan Ronda