Bureau of Immigration (BI) Commissioner Norman Tansingco terminated the services of a job order employee arrested last November 22 in Muntinlupa.
The employee, along with 9 others, was arrested by operatives of the Southern Police District (SPD) after allegedly pretending to be from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), and detaining and attempting to rob a Chinese national residing in the Ayala Alabang Village.
It was gathered that the employee presented himself as an immigration officer during the arrest.
“Upon checking our records, we confirmed that he is not an immigration officer, but rather a job order employee,” said Tansingco. “As a job order employee, he was not authorized to conduct arrests, and was actually assigned to do simple office tasks,” he added.
Job order employees are contractual personnel of the Bureau, with six months contracts to render office services for the agency.
Upon learning of the incident and the misrepresentation, Tansingco ordered the immediate termination of the said employee. The BI is also closely coordinating with the Philippine National Police to ensure that the filing of criminal charges against the employee is pursued.
“People like him tarnish the name of the Bureau that we work so hard to improve,” said Tansingco. “We will not tolerate any such illegal activities, hence we immediately terminated his services, and he will continue to face the criminal charges that might be filed against him,” he said.
BI warns of fake operations order on inspection of aliens in bars, hotels
Meanwhile, BI warned foreign nationals about a fake operations order circulating in chat groups on the internet.
In an advisory, BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco stated that the operations order titled ‘checking overstaying and illegal employment in various entertainment places’ was not issued by the BI.
The fake order claimed that immigration personnel are directed to inspect entertainment places in Manila, including bars, KTVs, music houses, golf clubs, bowling alleys, internet cafes, amusement parks, casinos, hotels, guest houses, and restaurants to search for illegal aliens.
“No such order has been issued by the BI,” said Tansingco. “Our operatives are not authorized to randomly inspect establishments, but instead are required to secure a mission order to conduct an arrest. A mission order is only issued upon thorough investigation and confirmation that the subject foreign national has indeed violated immigration laws,” he added.
Tansingco believes that the fake order is being used by syndicates that scare foreign nationals in the country to scam them.
He said that any such instance should be reported immediately to local law enforcement agencies.
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