5 immigration men suspended

Immigration Commissioner Alipio Fernandez suspended three intelligence agents and two other employees of the Bureau of Immigration (BI) yesterday for their alleged involvement in the kidnapping and extortion of two Taiwanese nationals in Subic last June 5.

Fernandez also placed the five — immigration agents Amando Talatala Jr., Arsenio Cantada Jr. and Nasser Hadjiwahid, utility worker Mario Mejico and clerk Andrian Mangondato — under preventive suspension without pay pending the investigation into the administrative case for grave misconduct filed against them.

"(They) may be punished with another suspension or even dismissed from the service if they are found to have committed the offenses," he said.

The case stemmed from the alleged attempt of the five employees to extort P300,000 from Taiwanese businessmen Chen Rong Yun, 55, and Chen Uro Yun, 50.

Relatives of the two Taiwanese sought the assistance of the police after the immigration men apprehended them in Subic last Sunday on claims that one of them is a "fugitive" from Taiwan.

The five immigration employees demand P300,000 from the two Chens in exchange for their release, police said.

Last Monday, elements of the Police Anti-Crime Emergency Response (PACER) caught up with Talatala, Cantada and Mejico in Intramuros, Manila.

Chen Rong Yun was rescued in the entrapment operation.

Seized during the operation were two cars, several handguns and BI identification cards which turned out to be fake, according to the police.

Two hours later, Chen Uro Yun was released unharmed in a bus terminal in Pasay City by Hadjiwahid and Mangondato, who both remain at large.

The immigration intelligence agents, however, insisted that their operation against the two Taiwanese was legitimate, claiming that one of them is a fugitive from Taiwan.