Ex-Bureau of Immigration lawyer gets 6 months for extortion

MANILA, Philippines - A former Bureau of Immigration lawyer was sentenced to six months in prison for extorting money from a visa applicant 20 years ago, the Office of the Ombudsman said yesterday.

Ombudsman prosecutors said Fred Gutierrez was found guilty of violating Article 318 of the Revised Penal Code.

Judge Ermin Ernest Louie Miguel of the Manila Metropolitan Trial Court ordered Gutierrez to pay a fine of P20,000.

Gesila Huyssen and her three sons, who are all American citizens, applied for visas in 1995.

Gutierrez told Huyssen that their visa applications would be acted on favorably only if she would pay a deposit.

Thinking that the deposit was required by law, Huyssen gave Gutierrez a total of $20,000 from April 1995 to April 1996.

But the visa applications were not approved after a year, prompting the complainant to ask Gutierrez to return her money, to no avail.