MANILA, 29 August 2003 — Three immigration personnel who have been the subject of complaints by Overseas Filipino Workers have been recalled from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), an aide of President Gloria Arroyo has said.
“We have broken the back of a syndicate that preys on our departing workers and their families. While the investigations continue, we hope that we have substantially addressed this extortion racket perpetrated against OFWs and that the Bureau of Immigration (BI) will continue to weed out its erring personnel,” said Heherson Alvarez, Arroyo’s adviser on Overseas Filipino Communities.
Alvarez said the three personnel, Winnefredo Jusay, Carol Vinuya and a Ms. Arjinal, were implicated in a probe conducted by two lawyers sent to Abu Dhabi and Dubai by Immigration Commissioner Andrea D. Domingo upon the complaint of some OFWs there.
The Bagong Bayani Lakas ng Bayan (Bayanikasan), a group of OFWs in in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), sought the assistance of Alvarez during his visit to the Middle East in April after they documented the complaints of some 200 OFWs on the issue of extortion. Alvarez immediately informed Domingo, who in turn ordered an investigation.
A report by BI lawyers Edgardo L. Mendoza and Arvin Cesar G. Santos detailed how OFWs Emmanuel Regulacion, Carmina Pascua, Vela Santiago and Eddie Arab were off-loaded from their respective flights on three separate occasions and were separately asked to dole out 5,000 pesos each in exchange for departure stamps on their passports. According to the report, on Oct. 22, 2002, after thrice being denied to leave, Regulacion was approached by a woman who told him to go to an immigration counter where a male officer demanded 5,000 pesos from him. Regulacion was able to leave for Dubai on the same day.
Pascua and Santiago were also not allowed to board their plane due to “some lacking documents.” They alleged that a certain Jawwad Bukhair, reportedly an employee of Cathay Pacific, agreed to facilitate their departure for 5,000 pesos each. On Oct. 29, 2002, they gave Jawwad the money and were directed to an already closed immigration counter where a woman they identified as Vinuya gave them the departure stamps on their passports without scrutinizing any other document.
On May 10, 2003, Arab was off-loaded from his flight for alleged lack of travel documents. On May 18, he was able to depart after a certain Glenn asked him to hand over 5,000 pesos in an envelope to “Counter No. 5.” Records showed that Arjinal was on duty at that time in Counter No. 5.
In her letter to Alvarez, Domingo said the immigration officers involved in the case “have been recalled to the main office, without entitlement to overtime pay, pending the final disposition of the complaint against them.”
Alvarez lauded Domingo for “acting expeditiously on the complaints we aired where legitimate OFWs with complete documentation are threatened to be taken out of a plane for spurious visa requirements unless they shell out obscene amounts ranging from P5,000 to as much as P25,000.”
Immigration officials estimate that at least 3,000 OFWs and their families depart NAIA daily.
Domingo vowed to pursue the investigations and to look into other similar complaints. She also ordered all immigration personnel to allow the immediate departure of OFWs and their families who already hold documents as required by law, without further delay or the need for any other “supporting papers.”
