Laoag Air execs’ bail plea denied

The Bureau of Immigration refused yesterday to allow two foreign officials of Laoag International Airlines to post bail – both detained for working without permits – because they might flee the country.

LIA board chairman Paul Ng, a Malaysian, and chief mechanic Jimmy Tan, an Australian, are under investigation for the Nov. 11 crash of LIA Flight 585 on Manila Bay that killed 19 of 34 passengers and crew.

They were arrested in Laoag, Ilocos Norte, 18 days after the crash when authorities learned that the two were working without permits. They are now undergoing deportation proceedings.

Immigration Commissioner Andrea Domingo said the two were "extreme flight risks" because they are both pilots and have direct access to aircraft.

Ng, Tan and Flight 585’s two Filipino pilots were barred from leaving the country by the bureau on Nov. 29 upon the request of a government panel, headed by Transportation Undersecretary Arturo Valdez, that is investigating the crash.

Valdez sought the watchlist order to ensure the presence of the two LIA officials and the two pilots while the committee’s investigation is ongoing.

The twin-engine Fokker-27 ditched into Manila Bay in the early morning of Nov. 11, shortly after takeoff from Manila Domestic Airport.

The two pilots of Flight 585 reported engine trouble. Investigators suspect that the plane’s two engines conked out because the fuel valves – which feed fuel from the tanks to the engines – were closed.

Domingo said Ng and Tan had asked that they be allowed to post bail for unspecified health reasons. However, they were turned down because they did not submit any certification from a reputable hospital or medical institution.

Domingo added that a physical examination conducted by the bureau’s medical office found them in good health.

Ng was apprehended at the LIA’s main office in Laoag City by the bureau’s local intelligence operatives, while Tan was nabbed at the hangar of Laoag airport.

Domingo ordered the arrest of the two LIA officials after investigation showed that both failed to secure the proper work permits from the appropriate government agencies while employed in the country. That violated the conditions of their stay in the country, she said.

Immigration records show that Tan entered the country as a tourist, while Ng is a holder of a resident visa for being married to a Filipina.

Domingo, however, said that Ng’s resident visa does not permit him to work without first getting an alien employment permit or certificate of residence for pre-arranged employees from the Department of Labor and Employment.

Ng’s lawyers are working for his immediate release because of an undisclosed illness which might be aggravated by his detention.

LIA spokesman Alvin Manuel Yater said Ng’s arrest on the strength of a declaration by immigration officials that he is an undesirable alien – one who is working without a permit – came as a surprise.

He added that for someone to be declared an undesirable alien, he or she must have been convicted of a criminal case. "Ng has had no convictions, since, to start with, no cases criminally or civilly had ever been filed against him."

Yater explained that Ng should not have been arrested for allegedly working without a permit since Ng is an investor and sits on the LIA board. The LIA spokesman claimed that "the law does not require someone like Ng to secure a working permit."

Ng has been living in the country as a permanent resident for the past 15 years and was close to obtaining Philippine citizenship, said Yater.

Tan serves as the company’s engineering consultant and also sits on the company’s board of directors, Yater said, but he did not know how many years Tan had been working in the country.