Philippine Senator Hontiveros bares China visa payoffs

As much as 10 billion pesos ($200 million) in grease money had changed hands in the “pastillas operations” involving Bureau of Immigration (BI) personnel who provided “VIP treatment” to Chinese tourists arriving in the Philippines, Senator Risa Hontiveros disclosed on Monday.

During the resumption of the Senate inquiry on prostitution catering to Chinese workers in the Philippines, Hontiveros criticised senior BI officials for claiming innocence about unscrupulous immigration personnel and private tour operators who she said facilitated Chinese citizens’ travel to the country.

The hearing was conducted by the committee on women, children, family relations and gender equality that Hontiveros heads.

Hontiveros cited sources in the bureau claiming that Chinese nationals arriving in the Philippines would pay 10,000 pesos each as “service fee” in exchange for being allowed to work in Philippine offshore gaming operators (Pogos) without the necessary permits from the government.

According to the senator, the racket was called “pastillas” because the bribe money that fixers gave to BI personnel was usually rolled and wrapped, in the manner that the popular milk-based candy is packaged.

“Why are Chinese nationals entering our country being provided with VIP [treatment]?” asked Hontiveros.

“While Filipinos traveling abroad are being burdened by [foreign] immigration, why is our own immigration [bureau] acting like a restaurant that is open to all?”

“They claim that Pogos bring investments here. Instead of investments, why are we seeing an invasion?” she said.

Videos, screenshots

The senator presented undercover videos and screenshots from Viber messages showing BI personnel behind the racket at Terminal 1 of Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia).

In one footage, an unidentified man, who was covertly taking the video, was seen holding the passports of Chinese citizens who had just arrived at Naia. The man went to a “backroom” office of the BI and handed the passports to waiting immigration personnel, who then processed the travel documents and visa of the Chinese tourists.

An immigration officer was heard repeatedly telling the man to remind the Chinese not to “look” at their mobile phones so as not to attract attention.

Grifton Medina, head of the bureau’s Port Operations Division, said this was the first time he had learned of such a scheme involving immigration personnel, as his office had been carrying out reforms since his appointment in November 2018.

Medina said he was “familiar” with the BI officer who was caught in the video that Hontiveros pointed out, but did not identify him.

He said he had reassigned the officer, who was then posted at the BI Travel Control and Enforcement Unit (TCEU), to another post as part of the bureau’s regular reshuffle.

“I was chosen [by my superiors] to [introduce] changes in the airports. We have taken out some [immigration] officers away from the airports. They were reassigned and some were charged,” Medina said.

“We have installed measures to combat corruption and this kind of activity [is] not only in the arrival [area], but also in the departure gates. I know that it’s a hard task, but I took the challenge,” he also said.

Immigration Deputy Commissioner Tobias Javier also claimed to have no knowledge of the racket at the airport.

“Based on my inquiry with our personnel division, there had been [personnel] changes in the airports. In fact, the TCEU head was replaced last year,” Javier said.

‘Complicit or negligent’

“Don’t fool the public. That is not standard procedure. Don’t tell us that what we saw on these videos are just nothing,” an irked Hontiveros told the BI officials.

“This only means two things – either you are complicit or you are negligent. And I don’t know which is worse,” she said.

“This [illegal] operation will not be this systematic if no one from inside the BI is protecting it. Pogo operators will not be this bold if nobody is profiting millions of pesos from it,” she said.

The senator described the errant immigration officials as “traitors” who had practically “sold the country’s borders to the Chinese.”

Javier said he would immediately ask Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente to convene the Board of Commissioners and promptly act on Hontiveros’ expose.

Hontiveros said the “reforms” in the BI that Medina and Javier claimed had not been successful since the racket was still going on until last month.

She said the illegal visa processing at the airport only stopped when the government issued a travel ban on China, Hong Kong and Macau to prevent the new coronavirus outbreak in China from spreading here.

Payoff scheme

The scheme had become “more professionalised,” Hontiveros said, since the cash collected from the Chinese were now being placed in individual brown envelopes, which would then be distributed to certain BI officials as part of the payoff.

Of the 10,000 pesos that a Chinese paid for visa processing, Hontiveros said 2,000 pesos went to six different BI personnel, with the biggest cut (650 pesos) given to the immigration officer.

“So where did the 8,000 pesos go? According to our informant, it’s being distributed before the Chinese tourists arrive in our country. The money is divided among the private travel agencies, the syndicates and their local contacts,” Hontiveros said.

She said immigration figures showed that some 1.8 million Chinese had visited the country since Pogos started to proliferate under President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration.

‘Full-blown investigation’

BI spokesperson Dana Sandoval said the bureau will look into Hontiveros’ revelations.

“Commissioner Morente has ordered a full-blown investigation to identify those who are possibly part of this syndicate,” she said.

PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER/ASIA NEWS NETWORK