CA reduces sanction on Immigration division chief to 6 months suspension

MANILA — The Court of Appeals has affirmed the Ombudsman’s dismissal of 4 Bureau of Immigration (BI) personnel implicated in the “pastillas scam,” while it reduced the sanction of a former division chief to a 6-month suspension.

• 'Pastillas scam' respondents question Ombudsman graft charges

In a decision promulgated June 29, the CA Fifth Division denied the petitions filed by Immigration personnel Deon Carlo Albao, Danieve Binsol, Fidel Mendoza and Chevy Chase Naniong, and affirmed instead their liability for grave misconduct and conduct prejudicial to the best interests of the service.

Albao and Binsol were identified by 2 whistleblowers as among the bosses of the pastillas scam, who allegedly possessed and managed the list of foreign nationals, mostly Chinese, who availed themselves of expedited “seamless immigration” services in exchange for P10,000.

They also allegedly supervised the distribution of shares in the profits among BI employees.

Mendoza, on the other hand, was supposedly the “kingmaker” and right-hand man of the one who allegedly ran the scheme, identified as Marc Red Mariñas, who was a former Immigration deputy commissioner.

Naniong, meanwhile, allegedly had in his personal mobile phone the master list of passengers who paid and used the service, and was seen allowing certain Chinese nationals to skirt the regular Immigration procedure.

The whistleblowers — Immigration officers Allison Chiong and Jeffrey Dale Ignacio — were involved in the scam and, according to the appellate court, had personal knowledge and experience to “constitute reasonable and substantial grounds to believe that Albao, Binsol, Mendoz, and Naniong were part of and were involved in the pastillas scheme.”

Substantial evidence is the standard of proof in administrative cases, which only requires a “reasonable ground” to believe that a person is responsible for a misconduct.

In the 27-page ruling penned by CA Associate Justice Apolinario Bruselas, Jr., the CA Fifth Division explained how participation in the pastillas scheme can be considered grave misconduct and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service.

“There is grave misconduct when the elements of corruption, clear intent to violate the law, or flagrant disregard of an established rule are manifested…The pastillas scheme, particularly, is an apparent violation of immigrations laws since it allows certain foreign nationals to skirt entry requirements and procedures. The regularity in the occurrence of the modus operandi shows a propensity of those involved to ignore well-established rules and regulations. Moreover, such misconduct is grave because the violation was impelled by corruption, that is in exchange for monetary compensation,” the appellate court ruled.

“Conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service, meanwhile, deals with the demeanor of a public officer which tarnishes the image and integrity of his or her public office… It is public knowledge, and we take judicial notice, that the pastillas scheme caused such an uproar from the general populace. To the public, it appeared that the immigration department unlawfully afforded special privilege to foreign nationals in exchange for money. Clearly, the pastillas scheme greatly tarnished the image and integrity not just of the position of an immigration officer but of the entire immigration department of the government. Such a scheme undoubtedly resulted in the loss of public trust in our immigration officers,” it added.

PENALTY REDUCED

But the CA reduced the penalty for a fifth BI personnel, former Port Operations Division chief Grifton Medina, from dismissal to a 6-month suspension without pay.

• 18 immigration personnel in 'pastillas' scheme dismissed from service

It absolved Medina of the administrative charge of grave misconduct because there was no direct statement that he participated in the modus operandi, other than the occasional reference to him as the “weakest link” and being “madaldal” (talkative).

He was, however, found liable for simple neglect of duty in his failure to give attention to a task expected of him.

“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 under the circumstances. His lackadaisical attitude fell short of the reasonable diligence, due care, and prudence required of him. The failure to conclude the purported agency investigation about the pastillas scheme up to the time of the filing of the complaints against BI employees despite awareness of the harm caused to the country’s economy and security, indicated a degree of carelessness in Medina’s performance of his supervisory duties as a division head of the BI,” he said.

DOJ REACTION

Reacting to the ruling, Department of Justice spokesperson Asec. Mico Clavano said Tuesday the agency welcomes the decision.

• NBI files corruption raps vs 86 Immigration officials over 'pastillas scam'

“The fact that we held the people accountable for pastillas scam is something that we can jump off, dahil alam naman po natin na naglilinis tayo all the time dito sa gobyerno. We need to keep the integrity of the service intact so to have these types of affirmations on the dismissals for people who have been found to have violated the code of conduct of public servants is a very welcome development,” he said.

• Ombudsman orders dismissal of 45 BI officers, staff linked to 'pastillas scam'

“[W]e will welcome any decision that will hold accountable people who have violated the code of conduct or have done things that are either illegal or irregular in government. That is not something that we tolerate here in the department and we hope that type of trend continues,” he added.

Aside from the administrative cases, dozens of former BI personnel are also facing graft charges at the Sandiganbayan in connection with the pastillas scam.

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