EDITORIAL - Rot at the immigration bureau

Someone must be preparing for a very merry Christmas at the Bureau of Immigration. First, a Chinese man on trial for kidnapping, Zhang Du, was deported under circumstances that the BI still cannot fully explain. Now a Sri Lankan accused of facilitating the deportation of Zhang has escaped from the BI detention center in Bicutan, Taguig.

Keerthi Jayamaha walked out of jail together with two Chinese men being held for drug trafficking, Tan Ti Shao and Go Sak Ping.

Significantly, Keerthi, identified as Jayamaha Mudalege Don Keerthi Jamayaha by the National Bureau of Investigation, was being wooed by the NBI to turn state witness against those involved in the anomalous deportation of Zhang Du, one of seven men being tried for the kidnapping of Jackie Tiu four years ago in La Union. The NBI says Keerthi served as a go-between for Zhang and his BI jailers. Zhang was deported last May 7; the BI move was exposed only months later, when Tiu learned that one of the accused in her abduction had left the country.

BI officials and personnel have been indicted in connection with Zhang’s deportation. At the rate detainees are walking out of the bureau’s detention facilities, there might not be any BI personnel left. The only way to stop these illegal deportations and mysterious escapes is to impose harsh punishment on unscrupulous immigration personnel.

Members of triads or crime rings in Hong Kong and Taiwan as well as illegal aliens from the Chinese mainland are entering the Philippines to engage in smuggling, drug trafficking and kidnapping, often with Chinese Filipinos as victims. This trend is largely due to the failure of the immigration bureau to do its job. Sometimes the failure is due to sheer incompetence or negligence. Other cases, however, such as the departure of Zhang Du, have to be attributed to corruption in the BI. The bureau needs a thorough housecleaning, starting with the punishment of those involved in the deportation of Zhang and the escape of Keerthi and the two drug suspects.