Vitangcol now on BI’s hold departure list

MANILA, Philippines - Former Metro Rail Transit general manager Alfredo Vitangcol III and five others have been barred from leaving the country in connection with the alleged MRT maintenance deal anomaly.  

Bureau of Immigration spokesperson Elaine Tan said that they received the hold departure order (HDO) from the Sandiganbayan at around 5:25 p.m. last Dec. 11 and by 6 p.m. their names were included in the bureau’s HDO list and disseminated to the different international seaports and airports.

Aside from Vitangcol, the anti-graft court also issued HDOs against his uncle-in-law Arturo Soriano, currently the provincial accountant of Pangasinan; Wilson de Vera, who ran for mayor under the Liberal Party (LP) in Calasiao, Pangasinan; Marlo de la Cruz, an LP campaign supporter in Manaoag, Pangasinan; Manolo Maralit and Federico Remo.

The Sandiganbayan has found probable cause to indict for graft Vitangcol and the five other executives of Philippine Trams Rail Management and Service Corp. (PH Trams) for an allegedly anomalous maintenance contract in 2012.

The last recorded date of travel of Vitangcol was Nov. 15.

Of the six, only one was confirmed to have left the country before the Sandiganbayan released the HDOs.

De Vera reportedly left for San Francisco last Dec. 7.

BI personnel manning the airports and seaports were immediately alerted regarding the new HDOs.

The BI is also trying to verify the whereabouts of De la Cruz, who has many namesakes that could have left the country.