Senator Risa on Wednesday raised the alarm over a Korean fugitive who was allegedly able to escape the Bureau of Immigration detention center.
“Mainit-init pa po ang balita. We have received credible information from sources na nakatakas umano itong pugante kahapon lang, habang papunta siya sa hearing niya sa Quezon City. Is this true? Kung totoo, ang tanong: Nakatakas nga lang ba o pinatakas? At the very least, this is gross negligence on the part of the BI,” Hontiveros said.
“I call on our law enforcers to look into this matter immediately. Hindi pwedeng pagala-gala lang sa bansa natin ang isang kriminal,” the senator said.
Na Ikhyeon, a South Korean national, was nabbed in Clark, Pampanga in 2023 for assuming a false Filipino identity. It was later found that he was also wanted in South Korea for his participation in large-scale fraud cases.
“Our Senate Committee on Women hearings showed that a lot of POGO actors also pretend to be Filipinos, kaya hindi ako magugulat kung itong pugante ay involved din sa POGO. Marami ding mga taga-POGO ay kasali sa mga fraud o scamming operations, kaya malamang may koneksyon din siya sa mga scam hubs dito sa bansa,” the senator said.
Hontiveros then expressed disappointment over the BI’s constant dereliction of duty.
She further cited the Senate Subcommittee on Justice and Human Rights hearing yesterday, in which it was found out that the BI did not even know that three Chinese POGO bosses — Lyu Xun, Kong Xiangrui and Wang Shangle — who were ordered for deportation did not actually arrive in China.
“Hindi alam ng BI na hindi nakarating sa China ang dineport nilang tatlong Chinese POGO bosses, hindi alam paano nakatakas si Alice Guo, at ngayon, huwag nilang sabihin hindi na naman nila alam paano nakatakas itong Koreanong pugante,” Hontiveros said.
“The bureau’s seeming — or deliberate — ignorance is astounding. Habang ang mga Pilipino hirap na hirap makalusot sa immigration counters, itong mga dayuhang pugante parang ang bilis nalang makawala. The BI has to seriously clean up its ranks. Kung hindi, patuloy tayong mapapasukan ng mga pugante’t kriminal,” Hontiveros concluded.