Ex-Jinggoy aide in ‘pork’ scam out of PHL since last year –BI

(Updated 7:28 p.m.) A former aide of Senator Jinggoy Estrada implicated in the alleged P10-billion pork barrel scam was able to leave the country even before a hold departure order was issued against her and several others, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said Wednesday.

In a statement, the BI said Pauline Labayen left the country using a passport with the name “Pauline Therese Mary Labayen Cabico.” Labayen is Estrada's former deputy chief of staff.

The BI said it has learned that Labayen resigned from Estrada's office in July last year after she was implicated in the alleged pork barrel scam.

Last September, at the height of the controversy, Estrada's office said Labayen was no longer reporting for work although it did not explain her absence.

"After Labayen resigned, Estrada offered her legal assistance. However, it turned out that the senator's aide instead left for abroad," said BI commissioner Siegfred Mison.

Labayen's destination was not immediately known.

The BI has earlier said that other accused in the pork barrel scam — former Technology Resource Center director general Antonio Ortiz and Renato Ornopia — have left the country even before arrest warrants and HDOs could be issued against them.

Of the 54 subjects of the HDO, only 23 have travel records with the BI, 22 of them are still in the country, including Senators Jinggoy Estrada, Ramon Bong Revilla Jr and Juan Ponce Enrile; alleged scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles and her children Jo Christine and James Christopher; Dennis Cunanan; and Mario Relampagos.

The BI said it has already obtained documents from the Department of Foreign Affairs that would help authorities determine whether other suspects have slipped out of the country. —Mark Merueñas/KBK, GMA News