BI personnel linked to ‘pastillas’ scam finished serving suspension, back on duty — DOJ

Bureau of Immigration (BI) personnel accused of involvement in the “pastillas” bribery scheme have returned to work after they finished serving a six-month suspension while the investigation into the scam is underway.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra confirmed the development on Wednesday, two days after President Rodrigo Duterte claimed in his final State of the Nation Address (SONA) that he fired 43 BI personnel over the scam.

“Their six-month preventive suspension has lapsed. They have reported for work at the main office, not at their previous assignments in the airport terminals. Those who were under job order arrangements have been terminated,” Guevarra said.

“The Office of the Ombudsman and the Department of Justice are winding up their investigations,” he said.

Guevarra added the DOJ could fire BI personnel under civil service rules.

“It’s the DOJ who appoints immigration officers under the Commonwealth Act that established our immigration agency. We have disciplined so many immigration officers in the past for administrative offenses,” he said.

Last October, the Ombudsman suspended several immigration officers for six months without pay pending investigation into their participation in the pastillas scam in which Chinese nationals would pay thousands of pesos as bribes to be allowed entry into the country without going through the usual process.

Weeks later, Duterte summoned some 40 BI officers tagged in the scam to Malacañang. During the meeting, he instructed his aide to distribute money wrapped in paper meant to resemble the Filipino dessert.

Duterte said he would have wanted the BI officers to eat money in front of him, but decided not to insist out of deference to Guevarra, who was present in the meeting.

Senator Risa Hontiveros, who has been leading the Senate probe into the pastillas scheme, estimated that the racket coupled with the Immigration Bureau’s visa upon arrival system generated P40 billion worth of bribes. — RSJ, GMA News