MANILA – The woman tagged as "Ma'am Arlene", who is said to be the perpetrator of corruption in the judiciary, has left the country, the Bureau of Immigration said.



Immigration Commissioner Siegfred Mison confirmed that Arlene Angeles Lerma boarded a Philippine Airlines plane from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 2 on October 16, 2013.



Mison, however, did not disclose Lerma's destination. He only said that she left for an Asian country.



Mison said that the "Ma'am Arlene" is being investigated because of her influence to the judges and the Philippine judicial system, as well as the regional trial courts up to the Court of Appeals.



DZMM's Ricky Velasco said that the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) also confirmed the BI's report.



"Nakumpirma ang pagkatao ni Arlene Angeles Lerma dahil sa kanyang araw ng kaarawan -- July 1, 1968 -- tumugma sa kanyang dokumento na ipinakita sa pagalis sa bansa," Velasco reported.



Supreme Court Administrator Midas Marquez earlier said that there are three different "Arlenes" being looked into in the investigation. Initial findings pointed to a clerk from the Court of Appeals, a former employee at the Manila Regional Trial Court, and a known contact from Manila City Hall.



On Thursday, the SC created a committee chaired by Associate Justice Marvic Leonen to probe the alleged case-fixing within the judiciary by a certain "Ma'am Arlene."