CORRUPTION RAPS ROCK BI

Corruption has reared its ugly head at the Bureau of Immigration. And
the beans were spilled by four ranking officials of the bureau itself
as they accused each other of extortion.

Last week, Associate Commissioner Teodoro Delarmente accused Faizal
Hussin, chief of the bureau's intelligence division, and his men of
extorting money from Li Yong Cheng, a suspected Chinese drug lord.

Hussin, on the other hand, accused Delarmente as Li's protector for
ordering his release.

Meanwhile Eleuterio Balina of the bureau's law division named Felino
Quirante Jr., chief of the bureau's personnel division, as the alleged
protector of an extortion syndicate victimizing aliens who run afoul
of immigration laws.

Quirante, as chief administrative officer, headed the four-man
fact-finding committee, which recommended the 90-day suspension of
Balina and approved by Commissioner Alipio Fernandez Jr.

The Quirante committee was formed after Sen. Pete Reyes of Saipan
delivered a privileged speech accusing Balina and a certain Fe
Valois-Banzuela of extorting P820,000 from four Saipan residents.

But Balina said that he has all the documents and evidence to prove
and substantiate his charges against Quirante.

"I will unmask the real extortionists and reveal irregularities in the
bureau at a proper time and forum," Balina said. "I am not yet
through. There will be no escape for them."

On August 22, 2002, Balina and another lawyer of the bureau, Reynan
Perez, also questioned the promotion of nine immigration lawyers, who,
they said, "did not even pass the original prerequisite and permanent
appointment."

In protesting the promotions, the two lawyers told the Civil
Service Commission: "This anomaly-nay-illegality-was
perpetrated through the connivance of [the lawyer] Felino C.
Quirante, administrative officer; [the lawyer] Benjamin
Kalaw, acting chief, law and investigation division; and the
other members of the promotion board who were
designated/promoted to their respective positions,
fortunately unprotected, although they themselves did not
rise from the ranks."

At the same time, Balina, in a two-page letter to the commissioner,
moved for the dismissal of the extortion case filed against him,
saying that it was "baseless and malicious."

Balina averred he was charged and suspended on the basis of a
questionable affidavit notarized by a nonlawyer, who signed in behalf
of a notary public, whose office could be found "under an acacia tree
in front of the immigration building in Intramuros."

The affidavit was signed by a certain Edna Carbonell, whom Balina
maintained he never met or talked with. It does not state the
affiant's other personal circumstances, including her present address.