Karen Gandamra, chief of the BI’s one-top-shop in this freeport, said in an interview here that the freed Chinese nationals “seemed very rich” and could afford to live on here despite the closure of their casino.
“Some of them drove expensive cars, including a Porsche, when they arrived at my office for biometrics and photos,” said Gandarma, daughter of Andrea Domingo, chair of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor).
She said that some 500 of the Chinese are now free, but could not yet leave the country as alert notices against them have been issued to ports in the country.
A total of 1,316 Chinese nationals were rounded up by immigration agents and the Angeles City police last Nov. 23 at the Next Games, an outsourcing facility on online gambling under Fontana firm owned by Chinese national Jack Lam.
Gandarma could not immediately say how much bail they posted on charges of violation of immigrations laws pending before the BI’s Legal Investigation Division headed by lawyer Arvin Santos.
“Some of them opted to stay on at the Fontana Convention Center where they were initially held together with the rest of their compatriots. Others are just around in Pampanga and they seem to be rich enough to sustain their needs,” she added.
Gandarma also said that some of the Chinese were also found to have legitimate working visas, although she could not remember exactly how many had such visas.
“It’s likely that those with expiring visas would just be asked to leave the country unless they apply for tourist visas,” she said.
“This would not be deportation since they did nothing wrong. It would be merely a degrading of their status as their visas would be converted from working status to mere tourist,” she explained.
This, even as Gandarma also cited sources from the Clark International Airport that Lam, who was ordered arrested by Pres. Duterte for alleged bribery and economic sabotage, left the country for Hong Kong only last Thursday.
“I think he used his Chinese name in his passport,” she said. Lam’s Chinese name is Lam Yin Lok.
“I have never personally met Lam. I heard he doesn’t talk to people down my level and that he prefers talking to people in higher places,” said Gandarma who assumed her BI post here only last Sept. 9. Her office has been in charge of processing documents of aliens, including the Chinese at Fontana, within Clark freeport.
The local BI office here has been rocked with controversies after nine of its employees based in Angeles City wrote a letter to former Immigration Commissioner Siegfred Mison in November 2015, accusing their former boss Janice Corres of anomalies in processing documents of Chinese nationals at Fontana.
Gandarma said Corres was transferred to her BI office in this freeport sometime last January and stayed on up to last November.
Corres was recently transferred to the BI central office and was made a member of an adhoc administrative committee despite pending cases against her before the Ombudsman and the BI.
