DOJ usec, MTRCB head eyed as BI commissioner

MANILA, Philippines - After repeated denials about a revamp in the Bureau of Immigration (BI), Malacañang says it is now leaving it up to Justice Secretary Benjamin Caguioa to introduce reforms in the bureau by reshuffling officials.

“As the President’s alter ego, the secretary of justice exercises supervision and control over the BI, who makes the appropriate recommendations on the officials’ fitness and trustworthiness,” Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said yesterday.

Sources said Justice Undersecretary Emmanuel Caparas and Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) chairman Eugenio Villareal are among those being considered to replace Mison.

Also being considered are BI associate commissioners Gilberto Repizo and Abdullah Mangotara, although some reports say Repizo himself is on his way out.

Villareal is a lawyer and law professor at the Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU).

Caparas is in charge of the BI in the Department of Justice.

Coloma explained that like all presidential appointees, BI Commissioner Siegfred Mison and the bureau’s deputy commissioners serve for as long as they enjoy the President’s trust and confidence.

Since the appointment of Caguioa who has jurisdiction over the BI, the secretary had called Mison to a meeting only once and last Nov. 23 he issued Department Order No. 911 that made Repizo in charge of all border control port operations, supposedly one of the functions reserved for the commissioner.

Mison has reportedly attempted to set up a meeting with President Aquino and Caguioa, but failed because of their busy schedules.

As of last night, Mison had not submitted a resignation letter.

A source said it that after the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ Meeting held in Manila, one of the deputies of Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. talked with Mison and informed him that he had to vacate the post.

Mison reportedly said “no problem,” but he asked that he be given until the end of December to complete some of his unfinished projects, such as the hiring of BI personnel.

The official reportedly asked Mison if he could leave sooner.

Mison had hoped that he would be given the opportunity to talk to President Aquino to personally thank him.

If Mison would be replaced at the BI, the source said it would be like history repeating itself.

His father Salvador Mison served as Bureau of Customs (BOC) commissioner during the presidency of Aquino’s mother Corazon.

In December 1991 or six months before Mrs. Aquino’s term ended, the elder Mison was removed from the BOC.

The current BI chief said he could not think of any reason why he would be replaced, but said, “I am ready to leave any time.” He was appointed BI associate commissioner in June 2011.

“Like a good soldier, I will leave when properly relieved. I cannot just abandon my post,” he said.

Aside from being a lawyer and professor at Ateneo, Mison is also a West Point graduate.

Once his stint at the BI ends, he plans on taking “a long break.”

 “My work here is very tiring. It was ‘heart work’ not hard work because my work came from my heart. I was given the opportunity… many people applied and fewer people were qualified. I was the one chosen. Not everyone is given this opportunity (to serve the country),” he added.

Meanwhile, Repizo, who was also among those rumored about to be replaced, said that as presidential appointees, “we serve at the pleasure of the President.”

“I am not indispensable as I serve under the pleasure and confidence of his excellency President Aquino,” Repizo said.

Reports last year said Mison would be replaced after Korean fugitive Chongdae Cho was able to escape three times, twice during his watch.

There was also the matter of Chinese national Wang Bo who allegedly bribed legislators with P440 million to vote in favor of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL). Bo was deported with the issue unresolved. 

Traditionally, Cabinet officials and other presidential appointees tender their courtesy resignations to the Chief Executive at the end of the year to give the President a free hand in the appointment at the start of each new year.

This is a practice observed by past presidents to audit the performance of the administration, but President Aquino has done away with this tradition.

He has kept his official family even as some of them have come under fire in connection with their work. – With Evelyn Macairan