De Lima urged to reverse Agra's order in human smuggling case

MANILA, Philippines - A non-government organization urged Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to reverse her predecessor’s “midnight” decision clearing at least 16 Bureau of Immigration (BI) officers who were linked to human trafficking.

Susan Ople of the Blas Ople Policy Center, which advocates protection for overseas Filipino workers, said the midnight decision is a major setback in the fight against human trafficking and illegal recruiters.

“It sends the wrong signals that we are not really serious in fighting the trafficking of our compatriots,” said Ople, who represents the center that was named after her father, the late former labor and foreign affairs secretary.

She said the decision will again alarm the United States, which recently found government efforts to curb human smuggling to be wanting and which kept the Philippines in its watch list.

She said De Lima should reverse former secretary Alberto Agra’s decision to clear the accused BI officers and investigate the respondents.

Ople also urged the replacement of Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan Jr. and appointment of a new immigrations chief who is a “tough, no-nonsense professional who could rid the agency of agents doubling as escorts of traffic victims.”

“We need someone in the mold of former BI chief and now Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, who ate death threats for breakfast,” she said.

Ople said Libanan has instituted some reforms, but “unfortunately, based on the testimonies of those who have recently been repatriated, the connivance between unscrupulous recruiters and corrupt immigration personnel continues.”

Agra dismissed the case on June 28, two days before he ended his stint as an official coterminous with former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo despite the recommendation of his prosecutors that administrative charges be filed against the respondents.

Senior State Prosecutor Aileen Marie Gutierrez headed that panel that investigated the officers, who were accused of “escorting” or facilitating the departure of victims of illegal recruiters through the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) in Clark, Pampanga.

Lawyer Reynaldo Robles, chief of staff of Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV who handles the case for free for the Ople center, said he could not understand why Agra threw out the charges.

“There was an admission and confession under oath from Racel Ong, one of the accused, that she and her colleagues whom she named were members of a syndicate involved in human trafficking. There were testimonies from the victims. And yet, the administrative charges were dismissed,” he said.

He said they have filed separate criminal charges against the respondents with the Department of Justice (DOJ), and these are still pending.

“We hope the criminal case is not weakened,” he added.

Ong was arrested in November 2009. Shortly after, she implicated 16 other immigration officers.

Ople said the anti-human trafficking law prohibits the identification of the accused; Agra named some respondents in his five-page decision throwing out the case.

They are Ramon Lapid, Heranio Manalo, Rey Hernandez, James Guevarra, Misael Tayag, and Robin Pinzon.

The former DOJ chief said Ong failed to prove her allegations against her colleagues assigned at the DMIA. He gave more weight to the denials made by the respondents than to the accusations.