Hontiveros: 3 deported POGO 'bosses' did not arrive in China

Senator Risa Hontiveros on Tuesday revealed that three Chinese POGO "bosses" allegedly did not return to China following their deportation from the Philippines.

In a Senate justice and human rights subcommittee hearing, the lawmaker disclosed what she called a "modus" where foreigners subject to deportation purchase airline tickets with layovers in order to escape.

"Ang modus daw ay hindi direct flight ang binibili tapos sa layover, naglalaho na parang bula ang mga bosses sa kanilang transit destination," Hontiveros said.

(The modus is that they don't buy direct flights, and then during the layover, the bosses disappear at their transit destination.)

During the hearing, the lawmaker grilled the Bureau of Immigration officers over the information on Lyu Xun, Kong Xiangrui, and Wang Shangle-- the alleged POGO bosses who were ordered to be deported after being arrested in a raid in Parañaque.

Hontiveros asked BI Intelligence Division Chief Fortunato Manahan and BI Legal Division Chief Arvin Cesar Santos to confirm whether the ticket of the three Chinese nationals for their return to China was a direct flight or transit flight.

"If I can recall, yung first, meron pong first three na dineport... Yung ticket po nila, as I can recall, is Air Asia bound for China. Meron po yatang layover," Manahan said.

"I can't recall, but... parang Hong Kong," he added, referring to the transit destination.

According to Manahan, the deportation of the three alleged POGO bosses was "the fastest in the history of BI" and was processed in a matter of two weeks after the bureau "initiated a dialogue" with the arrested individuals where they asked who among them could shoulder or purchase their own tickets for their deportation.

Manahan admitted that the purchase of airline tickets is one of the challenges of the BI in deporting the arrested foreigners from POGOs, saying that there were no allocated funds for this.

"Ito po yung mga challenges ng BI kung saan kukunin po yung mga tickets. Ngayon, there's a clamor to deport yung mga nahuhuli the soonest and the fastest time," he said.

(These are the challenges of the BI: where to get the tickets. There's a clamor to deport those caught the soonest and the fastest time.)

Apart from their capability to buy their tickets, Manahan said that the three were easily deported because the Chinese Embassy "did not manifest that they are fugitives or they have criminal offenses in China."

"We've been coordinating this to the said embassy, pero no written letter or no holdings manifested from the Chinese embassy," he said.

No information

Manahan said they have no information if the three actually arrived in China, prompting Hontiveros to question the BI for not monitoring the movements of the supposed POGO bosses.

"BI of the Republic of the Philippines orders deportation of 438 persons, including these three, who I think are the Chinese POGO bosses I named. Dapat end-to-end para makumpleto yung deportation process, bakit walang information kung nakarating sila aktwal sa destination nila?" Hontiveros asked.

(The BI orders the deportation of 438 persons, including these three, who I think are the Chinese POGO bosses. The deportation process should be completed end-to-end, why is there no information if they actually arrived at their destination?)

Responding to Hontiveros, Santos explained that the BI's protocol for deportees who were not declared fugitives is to simply ensure that they boarded their flight.

For those who were declared fugitives, Santos said their protocol is to make sure that "they are either escorted or their embassy is aware."

"Pagka declared as fugitive, that's when we ensure. But in this case, they are not fugitives," Santos said.

Hontiveros then expressed disappointment, saying that the objective to deport the three POGO bosses was not achieved.

"Ito po yung kailangan niyong malaman, sa lahat ng resource persons natin mula sa BI. They never arrived in China. I'm making that of record for the committee. Itong tatlo na pinangalanan ko kanina.. They never arrived in China," she said.

(This is what you need to know, to all resource persons from the BI. They never arrived in China. I'm making that of record for the committee. These three that I named earlier… They never arrived in China.)

"A deportation gone wrong. A simple and regular operation of the Bureau dapat. Hindi pa na-achieve ang objectives," she added.

(The objectives have not yet been achieved.)

She also urged the BI to review its policy on deportation, warning that the three POGO bosses could return to the Philippines—despite being blacklisted—due to the country's porous borders.

"If this is the current policy overall regarding deportations, lalo na kaugnay ng POGO, which is arguably the hottest issue na hinarap ng gobyerno in the last year, then I'm telling you, maybe we need to revisit this policy, how it has been implemented so far," she said.

(If this is the current policy overall regarding deportations, especially in relation to POGO, which is arguably the hottest issue the government has faced in the last year, then I'm telling you, maybe we need to revisit this policy and how it has been implemented.)

"E baka nga nakabalik na sila o ang mga tulad nila dito sa Pilipinas, tungkol pa rin sa tila, napaka-porous natin ang mga borders. Parang napakadaling takasan o pasukin ng mga kriminal na elemento," she ended. 

(Maybe they have returned to the Philippines, still regarding the fact that our borders seem very porous. It seems very easy for criminal elements to escape or enter.) —VAL, GMA Integrated News