Immigration officials charged with graft before Ombudsman over ‘pastillas scam’

FORTY-THREE people, including immigration officials, have been charged with graft before the Office of the Ombudsman in connection with ‘pastillas scam’ which involved extortion from Chinese nationals in exchange for Philippine visa.

Ombudsman Samuel Martires approved the charges which were filed before the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan on Monday, June 6, copies of which was released to media on Tuesday, June 7.

The charge sheet includes former immigration ports division chief Marc Red Mariñas, who was tagged in the Senate hearings as the alleged mastermind; and the one who replaced him, Grifton Medina.

In a 17-page information, the Ombudsman said then-Deputy Commissioner Mariñas of the Port Operations Division conspired with other immigration personnel, as well as with Liya Wu of Empire International Travel and Tours, to “willfully, unlawfully and give unwarranted benefits, preference or advantage to foreign passengers, particularly Chinese nationals.”

The group allegedly collected a fee of P10,000 per passenger for a total amount of P1.43 million, in violation of Section 3 of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

Other immigration officials charged with graft include Senior Immigration Officers Grifton Medina, Edwin Ortañez, and Glenn Comia, among others.

“Bosses or Chinese suppliers acted as conduits between the travel agencies and the immigration officers manning the immigration counters at NAIA Terminals 1 and 2. They receive a list of passenger names from travel agencies and cascade said list to the administrators of Viber chat groups,” the criminal information read.

Medina was suspended during the heat of the investigation in 2020, but was back in the bureau a year later as chief of personnel.