The management of the Bureau of Immigration was dismayed over anomalies involving some of their personnel, after the revelation of Immigration Officer Allison Chiong on the “pastillas” scheme.
“Nakakadisappoint po talaga…dahil sa mga ganitong issue… kasiraan po ito para sa buong Bureau,” Bureau of Immigration (BI) Spokesperson Dana Sandoval said.
Sandoval said even the employees who are doing their job right were also affected by being unfairly stereotyped.
As of this moment, there are 19 BI employees whose names have been revealed in the senate and are currently under the investigation to see if they will be kept or terminated.
However, this has not been an issue when it comes to their daily operation given how relievers are in place to substitute and do the job at any time.
The agency created a Fact Finding Committee to undertake their own investigation to find out who the possible accomplices are, and to completely destroy the “pastillas” scheme.
Meanwhile, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra confirmed that whistleblower Allison Chiong is already under the custody of the Witness Protection Program (WPP), and currently under evaluation by the WPP before being granted full coverage and protection under the program.
“Nasa WPP custody na yung whistleblower. We took him in upon the request of Sen. Hontiveros and the Senate President due to security concerns. He will be evaluated thoroughly by the WPP before he could be considered for full coverage,” Guevarra said.
Guevarra admitted that there was an earlier anomaly reported by the immigration, and added the issues have been referred by the DOJ to NBI “for proper investigation.” – Report from Kenneth Paciente
