Trinidad disowns ‘aide’

Pasay City Mayor Wenceslao Trinidad denied yesterday that a man accused of smuggling into the country Japanese nationals believed to be "Yakuza Gang" members, was his liaison officer.

"Antonio Fernandez is not my airport liaison officer nor has he worked for me in any private capacity or with the city government of Pasay," Trinidad said in a press statement.

However, Trinidad said that he knew Fernandez. The mayor said that Fernandez was known to be an aide of a former Pasay chief executive doing liaison work on airport matters.

Trinidad said that his airport liaison officer is Cesar Ochoa, who is the concurrent city public employment services office chief.

Trinidad issued the statement after the Bureau of Immigration issued an order barring the entry into the airport of one Antonio Fernandez, whom they identified as a liaison officer of the Pasay mayor, for his alleged escorting of Japanese gangsters into the country.

The mayor expressed suspicions that the issue may be "politically motivated" pointing out that the local elections were fast approaching. – Rainier Allan Ronda