BI jail warden, 9 others sacked

Bureau of Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan has ordered the relief of the BI detention center’s warden and nine other officers over alleged anomalies in the facility, which houses some 100 illegal and undesirable aliens.

In a directive issued over the weekend, Libanan has recalled the jail’s warden, supervisor and eight jail guards to the Law Enforcement Division at the BI main office in Manila pending investigation on their supposed involvement in extortion and other illegal activities.

Libanan, however, declined to reveal the names of the reshuffled personnel pending an administrative investigation of complaints of irregularities at the BI jail raised against them.

He has designated Superintendent Edwin Micu, a police officer detailed at the BI jail, as the new jail supervisor and also acting warden. He also reassigned 18 BI personnel from the bureau’s head office to the jail, located in Bicutan, Taguig City.

Libanan said a top-to-bottom revamp at the BI jail was part of his administrative reform measures to professionalize the bureau’s ranks and discipline corrupt employees.

“I will not hesitate to suspend and even dismiss them from their jobs if the investigation shows that they committed grave misconduct or conduct prejudicial to the interest of the service,” he said.

Sources said the relieved jail personnel were implicated in anomalies such as the unauthorized escorting of prisoners out of the jail, extorting money from foreign inmates, and giving special treatment to rich detainees.

The BI chief ordered the revamp following his inspection of the Bicutan jail and a dialogue with the foreign detainees.

During his inspection, he directed jail officials to seize all the knives and bladed instruments that he noticed were inside the cells of the detainees.

Libanan also ordered that the entire facility be sanitized and fumigated to protect the prisoners from contracting diseases and announced the assignment of an Army doctor at the jail to look after the health of the detainees.

He earlier ordered the decongestion of BI detention center by expediting the deportation of overstaying foreign inmates.

Libanan ordered BI jail officials to submit to him a list of alien detainees who want to be deported so that their cases can be reviewed and resolved with finality to facilitate their immediate departure.