Bribery At Bi / Manila Airport! I Am Shocked.. Just Shocked!

[Bruce]

 
.BI bribery at NAIA probed
By Edu Punay (The Philippine Star) | Updated March 27, 2013 - 12:00am
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MANILA, Philippines - The fugitive passenger bought a ticket just hours before his flight, checked in late, and got on the plane directly with a stamped boarding pass. His departure was not registered in the immigration database.

 

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima smells bribery and connivance in the recent flight from the country of a South Korean fugitive reportedly wanted in Seoul for a $25-million investment scam.The departure of Park Sung-jung from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) last March 19 reportedly alarmed President Aquino, who demanded that an investigation be conducted immediately.

 

“What else could be the reason? Although that is being investigated, most probably there’s money again involved here – never-ending corruption, bribery. The President really wants very stern actions initiated against these personnel,” De Lima told reporters yesterday. A senior immigration official has been suspended and more are seen to face sanctions as the Department of Justice (DOJ) widens its probe.

 

Suspended was senior immigration officer Ma. Roselle Sacendoncillo, who had processed and stamped Park’s boarding pass. Bureau of Immigration (BI) Commissioner Ricardo David, however, is not being investigated despite the administration’s policy on command responsibility. After a closed-door meeting with BI officials, De Lima revealed that at least six officers of the bureau and a still undetermined number of airport personnel are being investigated for their roles in the departure of the fugitive, who bought his ticket to Seoul just a few hours before his flight at around 1 a.m.

 

“Without a doubt, there was connivance in the airport,” De Lima stressed. De Lima said video footage in the airport showed that Park did not immediately go to the boarding area after checking in late.

“Those possibly involved were clearly shown in the CCTV,” she said. It turned out that Park directly boarded a Philippine Airlines plane with a stamped boarding pass. His departure was also not listed in BI’s database, but his name was in the flight manifest.

 

The DOJ chief admitted the incident angered President Aquino who demanded a full report. In response, De Lima said she tapped a team of DOJ prosecutors and National Bureau of Investigation agents to conduct a thorough probe in coordination with the intelligence division of the BI. “It’s very clear to me that there are authorities involved there and we will take action, including the filing of both administrative and criminal cases,” she said.

 

The South Korean embassy had requested that it be informed if Park would try to leave Manila.

Authorities at the Incheon International Airport arrested Park upon his arrival in South Korea even without being alerted by Manila. The BI said it had been looking for Park but clarified that he was not in its custody before his departure from Manila.

 

De Lima said the probe team would also try to determine why Park was able to secure a working visa from the BI. “It’s really irritating why there are BI personnel who dare to aid and connive like that in spite of stringent measures being put in place,” De Lima said.  

 

Park fled his country last year after being tagged in an investment scam. It was in June last year when the BI cancelled his Philippine visa and issued a summary deportation order against him.

In 2011, another Korean fugitive – Kim Tae-dong – was able to escape BI custody. Kim, 54, was wanted in his country for cheating in baccarat games at a Seoul casino in 2010. He fled to Manila but was arrested in Pasig City by police and BI operatives in July 2011.He managed to escape the following month from St. Luke’s Medical Center where he had been confined for hypertension, diabetes and abdominal pain under BI guard. – Rudy Santos

 

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[Mike S]

Hummmmmmm they are highly upset by BI officials being bribed to allow this guy to leave the Phils but he doesn't seem to be very concerned about BI officials wanted and getting bribes from foreigners who are processing their visas at the various BI offices ..... wonder why?????????? ...... :th_unfair:        interesting .......  :cheersty:

[i am bob]

Hummmmmmm they are highly upset by BI officials being bribed to allow this guy to leave the Phils but he doesn't seem to be very concerned about BI officials wanted and getting bribes from foreigners who are processing their visas at the various BI offices ..... wonder why?????????? ...... :th_unfair:        interesting .......  :cheersty:

 

I had heard that this had been cracked down on over the last year and that quite a few had been fired / let go / booted for accepting bribes, etc...   So is it still just as bad as before?

[Adventurer]

why would you be shocked Bruce? I don't know how much airport workers get paid in the Philippines but if it is anything like what many people earn there then it would not take much for a wealthy Korean with a suitcase full of cash to get through on his flight.

[Bruce]

why would you be shocked Bruce? I don't know how much airport workers get paid in the Philippines but if it is anything like what many people earn there then it would not take much for a wealthy Korean with a suitcase full of cash to get through on his flight.

 

Ah.... my sardonic wit.... lost to the few..... so sad.... Oh so sad..... :dance:

[Mike S]

Hummmmmmm they are highly upset by BI officials being bribed to allow this guy to leave the Phils but he doesn't seem to be very concerned about BI officials wanted and getting bribes from foreigners who are processing their visas at the various BI offices ..... wonder why?????????? ...... :th_unfair:        interesting .......  :cheersty:

 

I had heard that this had been cracked down on over the last year and that quite a few had been fired / let go / booted for accepting bribes, etc...   So is it still just as bad as before?

 

Some times it isn't necessarily the big bribes but the little ones that no one notices or cares about ..... my own personal experience with the BI happened a while back when we filed for my 13a ..... a clerk told me we had to pay p500 for postage to Manila but that I would get no receipt .... now the BI sends all their forms once a week .... I believe .... in bulk mail and individuals are not charged for it as it is part of your filing fee ..... when we went back 10 months later to do the final step they had moved their office from the 2nd floor to the ground floor (I was told by someone that the reason was to cut down on the bribery) ..... well if so it didn't work because the person came out from behind the window to meet me in the waiting area and asked if we had payed the p500 for the postage before .... I said yes we did .... they said then it is the same this time ...... now the funny thing was when we went up to the lawyers office later for the interview the clerk up there asked us to pay p500 for postage ..... now I got pi*sed .... but not like my asawa did .... she flat told him we paid it downstairs and we were not paying it again ..... get it from them downstairs ..... the two just looked at each other and said OK never mind ...... so it seems like p500 is the going rate for a bonus in that BI ..... and if you have 5 clients a day that adds up to p2500 and believe you me they have a lot more than that ..... not bad for an extra piece of the pie .....

 

Now I know there are those who are going to say .... my god b*tching about p500 ..... yea I am .... it is the principle of the thing ...... and then we have those who say but they make such low wages here ..... OK so how about every Tom .... Dick & Harry just up and charges I mean form the sari-sari store to the food vendor ..... sorry sir I don't make much money so give me p200 extra for that chicken leg ..... it is not our fault that this country is so poor ..... if they could tap into the bribes and corruption that comes form high places they could afford to help the poor ..... you noticed I said HELP .... not give-away .... big difference .....

 

Anyway just how I feel about it and your views will be different ..... just saying ...... IMHO ....... :tiphat: :cheersty:

Edited March 30, 2013 by Mike S

[i am bob]

why would you be shocked Bruce? I don't know how much airport workers get paid in the Philippines but if it is anything like what many people earn there then it would not take much for a wealthy Korean with a suitcase full of cash to get through on his flight.

 

Ah.... my sardonic wit.... lost to the few..... so sad.... Oh so sad..... :dance:

 

Ahhhh!  So that was what that was suppose to be...  I'll try to remember that for next time.....     :mocking:  :hystery:  :hystery:  :hystery:  :tiphat:

[i am bob]

 

Hummmmmmm they are highly upset by BI officials being bribed to allow this guy to leave the Phils but he doesn't seem to be very concerned about BI officials wanted and getting bribes from foreigners who are processing their visas at the various BI offices ..... wonder why?????????? ...... :th_unfair:        interesting .......  :cheersty:

 

I had heard that this had been cracked down on over the last year and that quite a few had been fired / let go / booted for accepting bribes, etc...   So is it still just as bad as before?

 

Some times it isn't necessarily the big bribes but the little ones that no one notices or cares about ..... my own personal experience with the BI happened a while back when we filed for my 13a ..... a clerk told me we had to pay p500 for postage to Manila but that I would get no receipt .... now the BI sends all their forms once a week .... I believe .... in bulk mail and individuals are not charged for it as it is part of your filing fee ..... when we went back 10 months later to do the final step they had moved their office from the 2nd floor to the ground floor (I was told by someone that the reason was to cut down on the bribery) ..... well if so it didn't work because the person came out from behind the window to meet me in the waiting area and asked if we had payed the p500 for the postage before .... I said yes we did .... they said then it is the same this time ...... now the funny thing was when we went up to the lawyers office later for the interview the clerk up there asked us to pay p500 for postage ..... now I got pi*sed .... but not like my asawa did .... she flat told him we paid it downstairs and we were not paying it again ..... get it from them downstairs ..... the two just looked at each other and said OK never mind ...... so it seems like p500 is the going rate for a bonus in that BI ..... and if you have 5 clients a day that adds up to p2500 and believe you me they have a lot more than that ..... not bad for an extra piece of the pie .....

 

Now I know there are those who are going to say .... my god b*tching about p500 ..... yea I am .... it is the principle of the thing ...... and then we have those who say but they make such low wages here ..... OK so how about every Tom .... Dick & Harry just up and charges I mean form the sari-sari store to the food vendor ..... sorry sir I don't make much money so give me p200 extra for that chicken leg ..... it is not our fault that this country is so poor ..... if they could tap into the bribes and corruption that comes form high places they could afford to help the poor ..... you noticed I said HELP .... not give-away .... big difference .....

 

Anyway just how I feel about it and your views will be different ..... just saying ...... IMHO ....... :tiphat: :cheersty:

 

 

Great post and I agree completely with you!

 

The government is trying to get rid of this sort of thing.  Wages in these offices were supposed to be raised (I have heard that this was completed but don't hold me on it) so that there would be no need for bribery and fraud in the government offices.   And, yes, many of them are making more on their scams than they do with their pay.  So it should be shut down and shut down hard - thus we hear occasionally in the news about so many people in this office being fired and so many in this office being let go and so many in this office...  

 

Now before somebody tells me that I'm against poor people, that is completely wrong.  People working in the government offices make a decent pay for the Philippines.  They aren't the poor but  middle class.  If somebody who hasn't eaten in a while and has kids that haven't eaten in a while either, well, I can be "scammed" in the right situation.  

 

:thumbsup:

[Mike S]

Wages in these offices were supposed to be raised (I have heard that this was completed but don't hold me on it) so that there would be no need for bribery and fraud in the government offices.

 

While I agree in theory Bob that just won't work as it is way to easy for them to just keep asking for the extra ..... all they will look at is the pay raise as just a little icing on an already large cake ..... and I'm not just saying that about Filipinos anyone used to making easy money is not going to stop just because they get a small increase in their salary ..... one way would be to not just fire the workers that get caught prosecute them and I do mean prosecute ..... when the company I used to work for developed a no leniency policy toward thievery and drugs in the work place the crimes came to a stand still ..... sure at first it continued in limited fashion but when the employees found out they were prosecuted as well as fired word got out pretty quick and it was the talk around the water cooler for quite a while ..... :hystery:  ..... we actually had one employee arrested by the cops while he was still working and another was called to go to his house where the cops and company officials were waiting for him

 

Sorry I just gotta tell this story ..... we had a guy who stole 2 very large ice cream freezers ... loaded them on a company truck and during working hours drove it to his house and put them on his screen porch he would then (as he worked at night) load up stuff and put it in his pick-up truck from the vault like bacon .... cheese .... cartons of milk ... cream .... and all kinds of juices and ice dream .... as he worked nights he would have his grandmother (who he lived with) sell the stuff to the neighbors and people in the housing development ..... so how did he get caught .... well it seems that one of the people in the neighbor hood like a certain block of cheese he was selling and when she ran out and the grandmother didn't have any more she called the name of the company on the wrapper  .... you guessed it the main office .... there was no delivery by them in that area and the blocks were only sold to commercial accounts .... they sent a rep from the company to investigate ..... they then had him watched and had him called him to his home before his shift ended the next morning ..... they not only caught him with the freezers but also with his new shipment of goodies in his truck ........ he was fired and prosecuted ...... there are many more .... like the guy who was buying fruit juice for his church at a big discount from the company and selling it instead in the low income development where he lived for a handsome profit  ......

 

Course there are those who will argue that the poor little worker doesn't have anything and the big ol' meany company has it all ..... but just stop and think for a moment ..... if the mean ol' company goes bankrupt where is the poor little ol' employee gonna work ..... well here in the Philippines ..... no where .... in the US he can get government help and actually in some cases live better than he did while working ..... :mocking: :mocking: :cheersty: