CA affirms dismissal of BI personnel over 'pastillas scheme'

The Court of Appeals has affirmed the decision of the Office of the Ombudsman dismissing several Immigration employees in connection to the so-called "pastillas scheme", which allowed the illegal entry of Chinese citizens into the country.

In a 27-page decision, the CA Fifth Division affirmed that Deon Albao, Danieve Binsol, Fidel Mendoza, and Chevy Chase Naniong are administratively liable for grave misconduct and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service.

According to the appellate court, it was established that Albao and Binsol were among the bosses of the scheme, Mendoza was a “right-hand man” of a boss, and Naniong was involved.

“To begin with, the Court finds that there can be no doubt as to the existence of the pastillas scheme in the BI and the conspiracy among some of its employees to perpetrate the scheme,” the CA said.

“The evidence presented by the FIO - consisting of affidavits of Chiong ang Ignacio and several photographs of conversation among BI employees, among others - substantially established the modus operandi of these employees,” it added.

The case stemmed from the petitions filed by the four former employees against the decision, which found them guilty of grave misconduct and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service.

Meanwhile, the CA did not give credit to the argument that the charges against them were based only on the speculations and hearsay of the witnesses.

One of the petitioners further claimed that a witness was not credible as they admitted to participating in the pastillas scheme.

However, the CA said that the witnesses’ involvement in the scheme does not destroy their credibility.

“As long as the testimony is true to human experience, given in a straightforward and unhesitating manner, and made without malice or ill-will against the person to whom the testimony was given, the testimony of a person may still be credible despite his or her participation in the incident subject of the testimony,” it said.

Meanwhile, the Court found former Ports Operations Division (POD) acting chief Grifton Medina guilty of simple neglect of duty and suspended him for six months without pay.

Medina was previously found guilty of grave misconduct. This was dismissed due to the lack of direct evidence to implicate him in the scheme.

Despite this, the court said that this did not mean that Medina was off the hook.

“Considering the bureau-wide modus of the pastillas scheme, Medina, given his rank and level of responsibility, did not efficiently and effectively perform the act expected of him as head of the POD,” it said.

Under the scheme, the Chinese are allowed to enter the country without going through the appropriate Immigration formalities by paying P10,000.

The decision, penned by Associate Justice Apolinario Brusela Jr., was promulgated on June 29. —VAL, GMA Integrated News