Immigration watch list mars holiday, justice

GOTCHA By Jarius Bondoc, The Philippine Star, Friday, September 7, 2007

Remember the theft last November of Chinese pork from four reefer vans at a Customs warehouse in Manila? The Ombudsman has suspended five Customs officers while being investigated. This is to prevent them from using their positions to daunt witnesses or tamper with case records.

Removed were chief Alexander Arcilla of the defunct Task Force Anti-Smuggling, director Facundo Bitanga of Auction and Cargo Disposal, examiners Nanie Koh and Roger Manlangit, and warehouseman Dionisio Menil.

To recall, a two-step crime was committed. In September an importer tried to sneak in the contraband of banned pork from China at the height of a foot-and-mouth disease epidemic. Customs men smelled the smuggling and seized the containers. After inspection and sealing by the Bureau of Animal Industry, the goods were sent to Seven Sigma private warehouse, under the special supervision of Arcilla. When an order was issued weeks later to bury and destroy the diseased meat, the vets discovered that their seals had been replaced. Still they accompanied the convoy to Pampanga, but it turned out there was no dumpsite. Local officials had not even issued a dumping permit. Aided by Customs guards, the suspecting vets ordered the vans opened, and saw these almost empty of the inventory.

The importer had long been charged, along with the Customs broker. Only now is the Ombudsman digging deeper into the theft.

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Friday last August 17 was supposed to be the start of a long-planned Hong Kong-China vacation of spouses Carlos and Susan Carlos. It ended abruptly in frustration because of a faulty entry in the Immigration hold-departure list.

The Carloses had already checked in their luggage, paid airport fees and cleared Customs, but were stopped at Immigration. Mr. Carlos’ name was in the list of wanted criminals and thus may not leave the country, the officer said. Only the wife can depart, but what a way that is to spend a wedding anniversary tour.

Now the Carloses, both bankers, have led quiet lives raising two kids to college. Carlos Carlos is not a common, so he asked what his supposed crime was. The Immigration officer said it doesn’t say in the list. Susan pleaded that there surely was a mistake, and asked for a middle name or even just an initial, photograph, address, birth date, identifying marks, or any other personal record. None. Mr. Carlos’ boarding pass was cancelled, and they were told to retrieve their bags from the plane. Go clear the matter at the Immigration head office on the other side of town in Intramuros, the officer advised.

The Carloses felt so helpless. It was almost 8 a.m. Determined to have that holiday, they lugged their bags and hailed a cab for Manila. By then Typhoon Egay was whizzing by with little winds but lots of floods. The Carloses got stuck in traffic. From the radio they learned that government offices were closing by noon due to the storm. A long weekend followed.

It was Tuesday when the Carloses finally got to see a supervisor at the Immigration building. It turned out that the wanted namesake was half Mr. Carlos’ age and with a court case pending in a faraway province. The middle name and other personal data certainly did not match. So a travel clearance was issued. By then it was too late. The tour would have ended that day. And the Carloses couldn’t refund the hard-earned $1,410 because they were part of a discounted package. The next day they returned to the airport to have Susan’s departure stamp cancelled. At the Immigration counter was a man distraught that he couldn’t leave to visit his daughter because his name was in the dreaded list. Like Mr. Carlos’ case, there was no middle name, not even just initials or whatever.

The Carloses make a “simple appeal to the courts or whoever it is in charge of putting names” in hold-departure lists: “Please take extra effort to include additional helpful information that will save many Filipinos from inconvenience and money. It would have helped us a lot if only....”

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The reverse happened in the recent case of Randall Johnson, country manager of Chevron (formerly Caltex), who has a pending deportation and court cases for unfair trade practices and contract breaches. The Limcaco family had sued the Canadian and petitioned Justice Sec. Raul Gonzalez on June 8 to put him on the watch list. That is, to alert the authorities in case Johnson tried to leave the country and thus frustrate justice. Complying with Gonzalez’s order, Immigration chief Marcelino Libanan had the expatriate so listed.

Weeks later Johnson sneaked out with nary an alert flashed to the courts. All it took was a call from Malacañang to clear him for departure. The Limcacos worry if the merits of their expulsion case will even be heard by Immigration now that the defendant has demonstrated influence.

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E-mail: jariusbondoc@workmail.com