NE solon pushes BI reorg

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    CABANATUAN CITY – A Nueva Ecija legislator on Saturday sought the reorganization of the Bureau of Immigration and creation of an independent body to hear corruption charges against its officers and personnel in the light of various controversies besetting the agency.

    Third Dist. Rep. Rosanna Vergara said that the independent office similar to the Philippine National Police’s Internal Affairs Service (PNP-IAS) shall be under direct control and supervision of the Office of the President.

    “The principal task of this independent office is to look into and investigate complaints about the corrupt act and practices being committed by the Bureau of Immigration officers and personnel,” Vergara said.

    The lady solon sought the measure as the House Committee Good Government and Public Accountability chaired by Rep. Johnny Pimentel recently terminated the inquiry, in aid of legislation, on the alleged irregularities and corrupt activities in the agency based on the House Resolution 929 filed by Vergara.

    The inquiry which started in January this year particularly tackled the infidelity in safekeeping official documents and supposed collusion between some of its officers and personnel with private individuals against a third party.

    During the last hearing on Aug. 16, Pimentel noted that BI officials certified that all of Vergara’s documents pertaining to her reacquisition of Filipino citizenship in 2006 under Republic Act 9225 or the Citizenship Retention and Reacquisition Law of 2003 “are true and authentic.”

    This, as former BI chief Ronaldo Geron repeatedly apologized for his “commission and omission” in the issuance of certification to Philip Piccio, a supporter of former Gov. Aurelio Umali, which resulted to filing of a string of cases against Vergara

    Geron who headed the BI for five months and 25 days (Jan. 6 to June 30, 2016) has certified, upon request of Piccio, that no petition was received or processed by the BI.

    It turned out that Vergara’s original documents under BI’s safekeeping went missing but photocopies were later found on record.

    Rep. Rodante Marcoleta said the case of missing original documents and issuance a negative certification to a third party could be a case of tampering and collusion.

    Rep. Robert Ace Barbers said “there were serious repercussions on errors committed, I should call it blatant errors committed by the bureau. In fact, because of those errors, cases were filed.”

    Partylist Rep. Harry Roque slammed the BI, saying missing original documents was becoming a trend at the agency and these were being made ground for filing HRET case against an elected official. He said he was counsel to a solon in the 16th Congress who faced an HRET case as a result of missing immigration documents.

    Alexis Graciela Maceda of the BI record section told the committee that having only photocopies of documents is “a usual thing” at the BI.

    BI head Jaime Morente said Geron should have not entertained Piccio’s request for certification and such act was punishable by law.

    “If the BI can do this to elected government official what more can they do to the ordinary man on the street who has no voice, who is at your mercy, they can just get deported. They don’t have a platform and this is why this is the subject of my privilege speech,” Vergara said.

    Vergara also proposed an amendment to Article 226 of the Revised Penal Code which only provides punishment to infi delity in custody of documents when the damage is serious.

    She wants aresto menor to be imposed even if the infidelity did not cause damage as in falsification of public documents cases.

    “In terms of non-legislative actions, I would like to recommend to this committee that it also file a case with the Ombudsman appropriate criminal and administrative against responsible BI officers whether existing or retired, its personnel and recommend to the BI commissioner the imposition of appropriate administrative sanctions against the responsible officers and personnel and including private persons who initiated these criminal acts.”

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