Sens chide BI chief for allowing Pogo deportees to take connecting flights
A questionable policy of the Bureau of Immigration (BI) that allowed deportees to take transit flights practically facilitated the escape of dozens of Chinese and Vietnamese nationals, who formerly worked with Philippine offshore gaming operators (Pogos).
At the resumption of the Senate hearing on Pogos early this week, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian did not hide his frustration after learning that 21 Chinese nationals, who were supposed to be deported to their home country, disappeared during their layover in Malaysia on March 7.
Gatchalian said the foreigners were arrested at a Pogo facility that was allegedly being used for various online scams.
According to him, he was informed that the Chinese group had headed to Cambodia, a well-known hub for scams similar to Pogos, immediately after disembarking from their flight from Kuala Lumpur.
“It doesn’t make sense,” Gatchalian told Immigration Commissioner Joel Anthony Viado, who confirmed Sen. Risa Hontiveros’ exposé that foreign Pogo workers were being allowed to book their own flights out of the country.
Flight diversion
“In my humble opinion, they should go back to their country of origin. That should be very clear. The (flight) diversion became a way for them to escape,” he said.
He echoed Hontiveros’ concern that undesirable aliens might eventually find their way back to the country using fictitious identities or continue their illegal operations in Cambodia and other countries hosting scamming facilities.
“They went to Cambodia because that’s really their business. We cannot stop criminals from doing criminal activities,” the senator said.
According to Viado, the Chinese nationals were supposed to travel to Guangzhou in Guangdong province after their transit flight.
Surprised by Viado’s admission, Gatchalian pointed out that Kuala Lumpur is far from Guangzhou, which is located in the southeastern part of China near Hong Kong.
Hontiveros, who presided over the hearing of the Senate subcommittee on justice, said a similar incident involving 10 Vietnamese citizens was also brought to her attention.
Last week, she disclosed that three Chinese nationals suspected to be the ‘bosses’ of an illegal Pogo raid in Pasay City had evaded deportation to China after they vanished during their flight to Hong Kong.
This time, Hontiveros said that the BI let the Vietnamese take a connecting flight to Pnom Penh on February 24 instead of a direct plane ride to Hanoi, which usually takes less than four hours.
“Mandating direct flights (of deportees) is not prohibited, right? Can you do that?” Hontiveros asked Viado.
1940 law
The immigration commissioner admitted that a law passed by the Commonwealth government in 1940 did not bar BI from boarding undesirable aliens on direct flights to their country of origin.
But Viado tried to justify the policy, saying that the pre-World War II edict did not also prohibit deportees from taking layover flights and paying for their own plane tickets.
“And there are costs to deportation and detention (of foreign nationals). We also have to take that into consideration,” Viado said. \In response, Hontiveros pointed out that Viado himself conceded that he has the authority to order all deportees to be sent back directly to their home countries, but he did not exercise this authority.
“The continued permission of connecting flights where direct flights are available is a boon to the continuation of transnational crimes,” she said.
“The commissioner could very well, as the head of our border control, prohibit connecting flights for Pogo workers or ensure stricter protocols like coordination between the borders,” she stressed.
