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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider No more 'pastillas scam'? Solon wants BI to use biometrics on inbound foreigners

No more 'pastillas scam'? Solon wants BI to use biometrics on inbound foreigners

Published Mar 12, 2023 10:45 pm
The Bureau of Immigration (BI) ought to have a biometrics system in place to alert the government on the entry of unsavory foreigners. Surigao del Sur 2nd district Rep. Johnny Pimentel (Facebook)
Thus, said Surigao del Sur 2nd district Rep. Johnny Pimentel, even as he prodded the Department of Justice (DOJ) to draw up a biometric border security plan for BI, which is one of its attached agencies. “The BI should start deploying biometric checks to verify the identities of foreign visitors and validate their entry or exit,” Pimentel, House Good Government and Public Accountability Committee vice chairperson, said in a statement on Sunday, March 12. “We would urge the DOJ to work closely with the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) so that new appropriations for the BI’s biometric controls may be included in the 2024 national budget that Malacañang will submit to Congress in August,” added the solon, who is a member of the powerful Commission on Appointments. Pimentel said biometric facial comparison alone would reinforce border protection against imposter threats and prevent the entry or reentry of foreigners seeking to commit crimes in the country. DOJ Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla himself, during his confirmation hearing, had pressed for the biometric tracking of foreign visitors, amid the involvement of several overstaying Chinese nationals in criminal activities such as human trafficking, prostitution, and online gambling-related kidnapping. Many of the overstaying Chinese nationals had arrived in the Philippines at the height of the so-called “pastillas” scam in 2019. In exchange for bribes, the scam facilitated the entry of groups of Chinese nationals, including those with derogatory records in China, without undergoing standard immigration procedures. Some of the Chinese nationals had previously fled China and entered the Philippines via Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar and other countries. At least 45 immigration officers implicated in the scam have since been dismissed, and are now facing corruption charges before the Sandiganbayan. The scam was named after the favorite Filipino milk-based candy because the bribe came in rolled money wrapped in white paper to look like the confection.

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