CORRUPT IMMIGRATION COMMISSIONER

Philippines Immigration continues its incompetence

  The Bureau of Immigration cannot seem to get a simple count of 16 Taiwanese detainees Right. On February 04 2014, 16 Taiwanese detainees held at Bicutan detention center in Taguig city were to be transported to Subic Bay Regional Trial court for arraignment for alleged cyber crime charges. They started their long 4 hour journey from Bicutan at 5am and arrived at Subic RTC at 9am, when the arraignment started, the judge counted only 15 Taiwanese, where 16 should have been present. BI transport guards looked bewildered, where did they lose 1 Taiwanese? After a call back to Bicutan Detention center, they found out he was still in bed! The judge scolded the Immigration and postponed arraignment for the following month.

This in the midst of Immigration commissioner Siegfred Mison crying that there is no budget to transport foreign detainees to their hearings. Bureau of Immigration in 2013 overran their budget by October 2013 and was unable to take detainees to their hearings for 3 months.
The commission on Human Rights constantly is reprimanding and checking on the Bureau of Immigration about their constant human rights violations against foreigners for illegal arrest, due process violations, arbitrary detention, and numerous health violations such as not providing immediate medical attention in a reasonable amount of time.
The Bicutan detention center has been over crowded for years and the almost stand still process of deporting or releasing Foreigners is a trickle. Bail for administrative cases is nonexistent in the Bureau of Immigration. It seems evident that Bureau of Immigration official loves to collect foreigners and not process them in a timely manner! This due to complete corruption in the Philippines Immigration, prosecutors looking for payoffs in order to process detainees deportation or releases.

 

Immigration ex-chief of legal Arvin Santos tells all, "Siegfred Mison knew everything that was going on, he was neck deep”

Ex-chief of legal division, Arvin Santos, who had been arrested and brought up on Anti-Graft and corruption charges by the Manila prosecutors office has revealed that current Immigration Chief Siegfred Mison knew that the Bureau of Immigration had become a money making machine by denying foreigners their due process of law. "How else could we extort money from them if we let them go or if we gave them due process of law?"
Arvin Santos disclosed that a cartel of corrupt immigration prosecutors, legal staff and commissioners had been formed, everyone was making money. We would have ex-commissioner Ricardo David Jr. issue mission orders to arrest the foreigner, whether he was in violation or not, lock him up in Bicutan detention center and keep him there until he paid. Foreigners became a commodity, most were businessmen that could afford to pay millions of php to be released. Their lawyers would fix the deal, and the signatures were placed on release or deportation orders. We specifically targeted Indians, Chinese and Koreans, they were the payers, we stayed away from Americans, most are broke pensioners that could not pay, we would leave them to the arresting team to get the measly 10-30k php.
Arvin Santos stated that deals were made for anyone, fugitives, pedophiles, criminals and the innocent foreigner that just happen to have a minor visa violation. If they paid, they were released, if they did not pay, they served as examples of this is what happens when you don't pay, you rot away in Bicutan.
Arvin Santos also disclosed that absolutely no due process was followed, the immigration rules and regulations were thrown away. Any motion to dismiss, motion to consider, or motion for bail were simply thrown in the trash, not to be answered. Summary Deportation Orders were issued and the foreigners were stuck in the system of corruption. The foreigner had 2 choices, pay the corruption money or fight it and wait years for your case to be resolved. Arvin Santos stated that most would pay and get back to their lives, the ones that did not pay, served as the best examples and put the fear of God into new foreigners arrested, stories of detainees being locked up for 3, 5, 7, 9 even 12 years were right there inside Bicutan.
Bicutan became the golden goose for the legal department and commissioners in Immigration. Villas, luxury cars, expensive watches, and vacations, were all derived from the illegal detention of foreigners! Some could afford mistresses with all the illegal payoffs.