DFA offices abroad alerted on Reyes escape

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has instructed all its diplomatic posts to inform their host governments of the cancellation of the tampered passport used by former Palawan governor Joel Reyes.

Reyes, together with his brother Coron Mayor Mario Reyes, is a fugitive in connection with the 2011 killing of environmentalist and broadcaster Gerry Ortega.

DFA Undersecretary for Administration Rafael Seguis said the other day that the DFA canceled last June 13 the electronic passport of a certain Joseph Lim Pe issued last Feb. 3, believed to have been used by Reyes to leave the country for Vietnam last March 18.

Seguis said the DFA also canceled Reyes’ machine-readable passport based on a court order and after an arrest warrant was issued against him.

“We issued a circular informing all our embassies and consulates of the cancellation of the passport under Lim Pe’s name and for them to inform their host governments of the cancellation,” Seguis said.

Immigration Associate Commissioner Siegfred Mison said they were probing possible lapses by airport personnel that allowed Reyes to flee the country. – With Evelyn Macairan