{"id":245304,"date":"2020-02-18T19:47:10","date_gmt":"2020-02-19T00:47:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=245304"},"modified":"2020-02-18T19:47:10","modified_gmt":"2020-02-19T00:47:10","slug":"palace-frowns-on-bis-pastillas-scheme-for-pogo-workers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/02\/18\/palace-frowns-on-bis-pastillas-scheme-for-pogo-workers\/","title":{"rendered":"Palace frowns on BI’s \u2018pastillas\u2019 scheme for POGO workers"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
BI Commissioner Jaime Morente on Monday already ordered the conduct of an investigation into the alleged money-making modus. (File Photo<\/a>: Bureau of Immigration, Philippines\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0— Malaca\u00f1ang on Tuesday expressed displeasure over the reported \u201cpastillas\u201d modus or the supposed money-making scheme by some Bureau of Immigration (BI) personnel to facilitate the entry of Chinese workers in the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO).<\/p>\n

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo vowed that the Palace would look into the alleged scheme that gives Chinese nationals easy access into the country for a fee, once a formal complaint is lodged before the Office of the President (OP).<\/p>\n

\u201cAny violation, any transgression, any anomaly, the Palace frowns on it and will act on it if there are complaints formally filed before its office,\u201d he said in a Palace press briefing.<\/p>\n

During a Senate hearing held Monday, Senator Risa Hontiveros revealed that Chinese nationals pay PHP10,000 as \u201cservice fee\u201d or grease money to earn special treatment from BI officials when they enter the Philippines.<\/p>\n

Hontiveros dubbed the unlawful act as \u201cpastillas\u201d scheme because the money would be hidden in rolled bond paper like the wrapper for the milk candy.<\/p>\n

Panelo said the Palace cannot initiate a probe into the allegation unless a formal complaint or even a simple letter is lodged before the OP.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny complaint should be filed. Because unless you file a formal complaint, we will never know that there\u2019s an anomaly. And even if these are being subject of talks in media, in columns, unless there is a complaint filed, we will never know. You have to submit proof so that we can do something about it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Not turning a blind eye<\/strong><\/p>\n

Panelo also ensured that President Rodrigo Duterte\u2019s administration was not turning a blind eye on the so-called \u201cpastillas\u201d scheme.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe record of this administration speaks for itself. It never turns a blind eye on anything that concerns governance,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He stressed that Duterte could not take \u201creckless\u201d action on any \u201crumor\u201d that has not been validated.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, there is only an allegation. If there is an allegation, then, that must be proven,\u201d Panelo said.<\/p>\n

BI Commissioner Jaime Morente on Monday already ordered the conduct of an investigation into the alleged money-making modus.<\/p>\n

Morente created a fact-finding panel that will submit a report on the \u201cpastillas\u201d scheme within 15 days.<\/p>\n

Panelo said POGO operations are still considered lawful unless results of the pending investigations prove otherwise.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, if those will be proven, then there\u2019s something wrong with the operation of the POGO. Then the government has something to do about it. Until such time, the presumption is they\u2019re performing regular task in accordance with the law,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Panelo, however, reassured that there is \u201cno sacred cow\u201d in the government under Duterte\u2019s leadership.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no sacred cow in this government. (Duterte has repeatedly said), \u2018If it\u2019s against the interest of the people and general welfare, I\u2019ll stop it.\u2019 This is the kind of President we have,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Duterte still trusts Morente<\/strong><\/p>\n

Panelo said he was unaware if Duterte has already been briefed about the alleged bribery by some Immigration personnel.<\/p>\n

Despite the allegations hurled against BI officials and employees, Morente still enjoys Duterte\u2019s trust and confidence, Panelo said.<\/p>\n

\u201cUntil he (Duterte) says otherwise, the assumption is he has confidence on him (Morente),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He, however, could not tell whether there is a need to summon Morente over issues hounding the BI.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Immigration commissioner is tasked to do his job. Meaning, apart from the usual governing of his own territory, he has to know if there is an anomaly in his territory and respond to it. It does not have to take the President to do the job for him,\u201d Panelo said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0— Malaca\u00f1ang on Tuesday expressed displeasure over the reported \u201cpastillas\u201d modus or the supposed money-making scheme by some Bureau of …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":229654,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-245304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-ruth-abbey-gita-carlos","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245304"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245304\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":245306,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245304\/revisions\/245306"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/229654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}