THE Bureau of Immigration (BI) proudly announced that despite the pandemic, its operatives were able to arrest a total of 28 foreign fugitives from justice during the first semester of the year only.

Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente said the BI’s fugitive search unit (FSU) head by Rendel Bryan Sy had remained very active in locating and apprehending alien fugitives hiding in the country.

It was learned that the number of alien fugitives arrested from January to June was only slightly lower than the 32 wanted foreigners who were apprehended in the same period last year when the pandemic broke out.

While admitting that the bureau has much difficulty as its field operatives face exposure to virus, Morente said immigration officers remained steadfast in their duty to cleanse the country of unwanted aliens.

According to Sy, most of the fugitives they arrested were already deported and are now serving sentences for their crimes in their own homeland. The said aliens were also placed in the BI blacklist and banned from re-entering the country.

Records showed that 19 South Koreans, who were also wanted for fraud and illegal gambling, topped the list of the arrested fugitives. The rest were four Americans, a Japanese, a French, an Italian, a Polish, and a Bahraini national.

Among the high-profile fugitives who were captured was Frenchman Julien Barbier, who is wanted for narcotics trafficking; American John Dalton Daclan, who is wanted for a string of cases such as robbery, burglary, fraud, and battery; and Italian Antonello Ivaldi, a sex offender and alleged pedophile.

In 2019, the BI effected the biggest number of arrests of fugitives or a total of 425 aliens captured, many of whom were Chinese nationals involved in illegal online gaming and telecom fraud operations.

Sy said that Chinese nationals, totaling 116 who were mostly wanted for telecom fraud and cyber crimes, also topped the list of the 260 alien fugitives who were arrested in 2018.

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Workers from various revenue-generating agencies government-owned and-controlled corporations (GOCCs) and government financial institutions (GFIs), are appealing to those in charge to implement the program granting them their salary increases, allowances and other benefits for providing substantial amount of revenues to the national government.

Officers of the KAMAGGFI or Kapisanan ng mga Manggagawa sa GOCCs and GFIs said the salary standardization law for civil service has given salary increases several times to workers in national government agencies and even in local government units.

Because of the non-implementation of the Compensation Position Classification System (CPCS) for GOCC and GFI officers and employees since 1971, there is now a big discrepancy between the salaries of GOCC employees and the salaries of civil service employees in other government departments and agencies, lamented Nanette Jariño Lati, KAMMAGFI secretary-general and president of the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) employees’ association.

KAMAGGFI is an umbrella organization grouping the employees’ associations of the country’s some 200 GOCCs and GFIs. These public corporations are involved in financing public utilities and other commercial activities for profit, enabling government to deliver basic services.

“We are not a burden to the national government. We generate revenues from our operations that support the development projects of the government,” said Virginia P. Cabonce, vice chair and president of the employees association of the National Electrification Administration (NEA).

Baldwin Sykimte, KAMMAGFI chairman and president of the employees’ association of Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC), said the CPCS was drawn up to streamline the compensation scale of GOCC and GFI officers and employees adding that the CPCS that applies to GOCC officers and employees was meant to to support and encourage performance driven, productive and efficient organizations.

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Jokjok (from Ma. Lourdes Vicente of Naga City)— Kumatok ang isang ahente sa bahay. Pagbukas ni Misis ng pinto, agad pumasok ang ahente at ikinalat sa sahig ang ebak ng kabayo…Ahente: Ma’am, pag hindi nalinis ng vacuum cleaner ko ang kalat, kakainin ko ang mga yan!/Misis: O sige, umpisahan mo na pagkain niyan at brownout kami ngayon!

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