86 BI personnel charged over ‘pastillas’ scam

MANILA, Philippines — At least 86 officers and personnel of the Bureau of Immigration (BI) were charged with graft before the Office of the Ombudsman yesterday in connection with the money-making scheme called “pastillas” involving the smuggling of Chinese into the country.

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Special Action Unit recommended fresh graft cases against the BI officers accused of receiving bribe money. The first graft complaint was filed last September.

Apart from the testimony of immigration officer Allison Chiong, who accused the respondents of receiving money, gifts and even sexual favors from trafficked women, the NBI submitted the testimony of another whistle-blower BI officer Jeffrey Dale Ignacio.

The NBI asked the ombudsman to remove Ignacio from the list of respondents in the first complaint since blowing the lid on the scheme.

In his testimony, Ignacio told the NBI that at least 90 percent of the BI frontliners at the airports were involved in the scheme where they earned P5,000 to P20,000 every one or two weeks.

Ignacio informed the NBI about two meetings last September with former Port Operations Division (POD) chief Marc Red Mariñas, members of the pastillas group as well as the group’s insider NBI legal assistance section chief Joshua Paul Capiral and his brother, BI officer Christopher, about building a common defense in the NBI’s probe.

“Ignacio narrated that Mariñas and the other bosses told them to stay with their group, their battle cry being ‘walang-iwanan’ or nobody left behind. The constant reminders of promise of support (financially and morally) to their cohorts drowning in legal quicksand, the assurance of power and connections are, without any shade of doubt, manifestations of an organized criminal ring trying its best to plug the holes in their sinking ship,” the complaint read.

The Capiral brothers were arrested by the NBI in an entrapment operation last September. Charges of graft, robbery and extortion have been filed against them for allegedly asking money from Ignacio in exchange for dropping the case.

He corroborated the testimony of Chiong about the list of Chinese citizens provided by travel agencies to be given unchecked entry into the country.

Ignacio also confirmed a photo of him counting the bribe money to be distributed among the respondents.

Ignacio denied the allegation of Taiwanese Yu Cian Lai who told a Senate hearing that it was him who allowed her entry to the Philippines to be trafficked and exploited.

Ignacio said Lai was a tourist upon entering the country and was not included in the list of foreigners benefiting from the pastillas racket.

Charged anew with graft were POD acting chief Grifton Medina, NAIA Terminal 1 Traffic Control and Enforcement Unit (TCEU) deputy terminal head Dean Albao, NAIA immigration supervisor Abdulhafez Hadjibasher, senior BI officer Er German Robin and security guard Fidel Mendoza.

Also charged were BI officers Gabriel Estacio, Ralph Garcia, Phol Villanueva, Abdul Calaca, Danilo Deudor, Mark Macababad, Aurelio Lucero III, George Bituin, Salahudin Hadjinoor, Chevy Naniong, Hamza Pacasum, Manuel Sarmiento III and Cherry Pie Ricolcol.

The other respondents in the second graft complaint were Mariñas, NAIA Terminal 2 TCEU heads Benlando Guevara and Arlan Mendoza, Terminal 1 TCEU head Glennford Comia, Terminal 3 TCEU chiefs Anthony Lopez and Danieve Binsol, Border Control and Intelligence Unit overall head Erwin Ortañez, senior BI officer Cecille Orozco and 60 other immigration personnel.