Illegal entry of Chinese workers continues
Credit to Author: RAMON T. TULFO| Date: Fri, 19 Apr 2019 16:11:44 +0000
FORMER special assistant to the President Bong Go, running third in the latest surveys of potential senatorial winners, may yet finish No. 1 in the homestretch.
Most local government officials who support President Duterte’s campaign against drugs and corruption, have promised to put in more effort for Go in the final stretch of the election campaign.
Bong Go closely trails Sen. Grace Poe, currently in the No. 1 position, and the billionaire Sen. Cynthia Villar.
With his position at No. 3, Go is a sure winner.
But if he dislodges Poe in first place, that will speak volumes about the extent of the President’s popularity with the masses.
The President is personally campaigning for his trusted aide. Go and Digong are inseparable.
* * *
I don’t know Mayor Jaime Fresnedi, who’s running for re-election in Muntinlupa and is up against former assistant immigration commissioner Marc Red Mariñas.
Mariñas, according to my sources in the municipality, is spending hundreds of millions in his campaign.
I don’t vote and live in Muntinlupa, and I’m not interested in local politics.
Let me disabuse the minds of some readers and followers on Facebook that I am campaigning for Fresnedi.
It just so happens that my Deep Throat source in the recent exposé I wrote on the human trafficking syndicate at the international airport revealed that Mariñas allegedly co-chairs the syndicate with his father Maynardo.
Maynardo Mariñas heads the special operations communications unit of the immigration bureau, which issues visas to Chinese tourists upon arrival at the airport.
The visa upon arrival is the No. 1 source of graft by immigration officers as thousands of Mainland Chinese arrive at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport every day.
These tourists are issued visas on the spot and escorted to waiting vans. The “fees” for their VIP treatment are pre-paid.
I don’t know Deep Throat’s political leanings but based on my long conversations with him I know that he was telling the truth about the syndicate as he is part of it.
I can tell you that Deep Throat spilled the beans on the group because he and his fellow immigration officers felt that they were not getting a fair share of the loot that the group was amassing.
As I’ve said in this space before, despite the vow of silence in a group, a disgruntled member will spill the beans on it.
We’ve seen it happen before: Benhur Luy baring the multibillion-peso pork barrel scam of his cousin, Janet Lim Napoles, because he felt he wasn’t getting enough.
The Mafia’s omerta (vow of silence) being broken by a discontented “soldier.”
A member of a robbery gang becoming a police informer because he got a pittance from the loot.
* * *
My series of columns on the activities of the syndicate led to a halt in the illegal entry of Indian nationals who bribe syndicates from P100,000 to P200,000 per head.
These Indians end up in the “five-six” usury business.
The exposé, according to Deep Throat, has also put a stop, at least temporarily, to the exit of Filipino contract workers without permits from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), and prostitutes.
But the entry of Mainland Chinese without visa continues at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) and Clark International Airport in Pampanga.
Here’s what Deep Throat texted me last Monday:
“Den Binsol and Glenford Comia (syndicate leaders – RTT) are still extorting from Chinese passengers.”
“Whenever a Chinese tourist arrives and is suspected to work without permit or to overstay, he is subjected to interrogation.”
“They (tourists) are brought (sic) inside the immigration office at the NAIA for confirmation of their place of stay, itinerary, return flight to China, etc. [so they could come up with bribe money.]”
“The immigration officers who process the arrival of these Chinese are coerced by Binsol [who is currently assigned at SM North EDSA] and Glennford Comia into allowing these illegal Chinese immigrants to enter the country.”
“Binsol and Comia extort [from] these Chinese from P10,000 to P12,000 each. Easy money with just a few phone calls.
“The immigration officers who stamped [the passports] and allowed the Chinese entry are exposed to risk of being questioned later but they received nothing from Binsol and Comia.”
“No one dares to [stand up to]Binsol and Comia despite your series of articles. They have even become bolder and greedier.”
“It’s funny to note (sic) that Binsol who was already kicked out of NAIA by the syndicate still has great influence in the airport’s operations.”
“[The syndicate] fear that Binsol might turn on them, expose and testify against them during these tough times. This is why they tolerate his abusive behavior.”
Deep Throat said earlier that the syndicate had worked on Binsol’s reassignment to the SM North EDSA immigration office after he failed to remit P30 million to the syndicate.
* * *
Here’s a postscript to my exposé: The syndicate sent an emissary to me.
The emissary told me to “name your price” in exchange for my silence.
The offer was made after I featured a photo of immigration officers in a nightclub on my Facebook page with a caption saying that a write-up on the activities of the human trafficking syndicate would later follow in my column here in The Manila Times.
Now, do you still wonder why other news outlets have not followed up on my exposé?
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