Maceda accused of human smuggling

Former Ambassador Ernesto Maceda was accused yesterday of "smuggling" 25 people into the United States when he was assigned at the Philippine Embassy in Washington.

Well-placed sources at the Department of Foreign Affairs made the accusation after giving The STAR documents showing that Maceda worked for the issuance of official passports for the 25, who were listed as his "private staff" members.

The sources said the US Embassy had asked the foreign affairs department to investigate Maceda, but Embassy officials refused to say if he is implicated in human smuggling.

However, a US official, who asked not to be named, told The STAR yesterday the Embassy’s anti-fraud division has been investigating reported cases of human smuggling involving Philippine officials.

Presenting the official passports, the 25 reportedly had an easy time getting visas from the US Embassy in Manila and entering the US, where they have remained even after Maceda returned to the country.

Nine of them were identified as Adelina Pascual and Jacqueline Baltazar, housemaids; Lilia Berdan, Odette Orevillio and Cicel Naga, domestic helpers; Maria Belen Feliciano, cook; Dalmacio Lim Jr., personal valet and chauffeur; Ernesto Calanog, chef; and Bernadette Torres, private secretary.

The 25 are now undocumented aliens in the US after the Office of Consular Affairs canceled their passports on Feb. 17 last year through a memorandum to the various embassies and consulates abroad.