BI chief Viado denies corruption allegations
Immigration Commissioner Joel Anthony Viado on Monday denied corruption allegations in the bureau, including the supposed mishandling of cases related to the illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) in the country.
In a press statement, Viado dismissed as 'patently false' the accusations purportedly contained in a letter sent by BI employees to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. last week, wherein they supposedly accused the BI chief of corruption.
'For the record, I unequivocally state that all the allegations contained in the alleged 'white paper' are patently false,' he said.
'Should any pertinent agency of the national government decide to look into the supposed 'allegations,' I reiterate the commitment of the Bureau to lend its fullest support,' he said.
BI employees — who wished to remain anonymous due to concerns of retaliation from Viado — allegedly submitted a letter to the Office of the President (OP) to report the supposed corrupt practices under the present BI leadership including the mishandling of POGO-related cases and their deportation.
Malacañang has yet to confirm receipt of the letter dated June 2 but a supposed copy of it showed that it was received by the OP on June 5, 2025.
Viado dismissed the letter as part of a 'smear campaign.' He also accused a senior BI official of fueling the propaganda after the BI chief supposedly rejected his request to release a Chinese national linked to a powerful political figure from the previous administration.
'I was also told that my rejection of the plea by this person to release the said Chinese national may have fueled the smear campaign. I have disregarded these warnings because the mandate I accepted was never about protecting myself, but about cleaning up a system long plagued by abuse. If the price of reform is to be the target of black propaganda, then so be it,' he said.
Viado warned of exposing the parties behind the alleged smear campaign in 'due time.'
'I have assured those who have expressed their concern over the threats from these interests that no amount of smear will stop us from continuing our efforts at reforms in the agency,' the BI chief said.
'It is unfortunate that these interests are using the name of the hardworking men and women of the bureau to mask themselves and their hideous agenda. I warn these parties in turn that they shall be exposed in due time. The public deserves the truth and the truth will stand,' he added. —Sundy Locus/AOL, GMA Integrated News
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
GMA Network
2 days ago
- GMA Network
Chinese student gets life in UK jail for 'campaign of rape'
LONDON, United Kingdom - A Chinese post-graduate student convicted of drugging and raping 10 women in the UK and China and suspected of having attacked more was on Thursday jailed for life by a London court. Police in London say they have evidence to suggest he may have targeted more than 50 other women. Serial rapist Zhenhao Zou, 28 -- described in court as "calculated and predatory" -- targeted young Chinese women whom he invited to his London flat for drinks or to study before drugging and attacking them. Zou filmed nine of the rapes with hidden or handheld cameras, but only three of the 10 victims have ever been identified. Sentencing him at Inner London Crown Court, Judge Rosina Cottage said there was "no doubt that you planned and executed a campaign of rape" that had caused "devastating and long term effects". To the world he appeared "well to do, ambitious and charming" but this was a mask hiding a "sexual predator", she said. He treated his victims "callously" as "sex toys" for his own gratification, and his desire to assert "power and control over women" meant that he would be a "risk for an indefinite period", she added. Zou, wearing a dark suit and glasses, listened impassively in the dock to the sentence via a translator. He will serve a minimum of 22 years in jail, after accounting for time already spent in custody. The former engineering student at University College London was found guilty by a jury in March of 28 offences including 11 counts of rape -- with two of the counts relating to one woman -- three counts of voyeurism and one of false imprisonment. He was found guilty of raping three women in London and seven in China between 2019 and 2023. He was also convicted of three counts of possessing butanediol -- an industrial solvent -- with intent to commit a sexual offence and 10 counts of possession of an extreme pornographic image. - 'Prolific' rapist - Victims told the sentencing hearing in impact statements of the psychological damage they suffered including nightmares, self harm and a sense of despair and isolation. One recalled "wandering like a trapped animal trying to find an exit" after she was attacked. "What happened that night is etched into my soul forever," she said, adding that Zou's family was "very powerful in China" and she feared he would "seek revenge". After the sentence, Saira Pike of the Crown Prosecution Service described Zou as a "serial rapist and a danger to women". "His life sentence reflects the heinous acts and harm he caused to women and the danger he posed to society." Analysis of footage and web chats showed the former student's "meticulous planning and the horrifying execution of his crimes". And Pike paid tribute to the "courageous women" who came forward to report his "horrific crimes" and whose evidence -- combined with his own videos -- helped secure his conviction and life sentence. Since he was convicted, and following an international appeal by UK police, some 24 women had come forward to say they might have been sexually assaulted by Zou. London's Met police have said they have evidence to suggest he may have targeted more than 50 other women and urged possible victims to come forward, adding that he had also studied in Belfast in Northern Ireland in 2017. "Our investigation remains open and we continue to appeal to anyone who may think they have been a victim of Zou," said Commander Kevin Southworth of the Metropolitan Police. "Please come forward and speak with our team -– we will treat you with empathy, kindness and respect." — Agence France-Presse
GMA Network
2 days ago
- GMA Network
Trump extends deadline for TikTok sale by 90 days
WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump announced Thursday he had given social media platform TikTok another 90 days to find a non-Chinese buyer or be banned in the United States. "I've just signed the Executive Order extending the Deadline for the TikTok closing for 90 days (September 17, 2025)," Trump posted on his Truth Social platform, putting off the ban for the third time. — Agence France-Presse
GMA Network
3 days ago
- GMA Network
Dalai Lama to issue July 2 message, expected to address succession
The Dalai Lama, who will turn 90 on July 6, has said his landmark birthday will also be a time to encourage people to plan for an eventual future without him and to address whether the Tibetan people want, in time, another Dalai Lama. Mohd Arhaan Archer/ AFP NEW DELHI — The Dalai Lama will issue a message on July 2, Tibet's government in exile said Wednesday, days ahead of his 90th birthday and a hugely anticipated decision as to whether he will have an eventual successor. The Nobel Peace Prize-winning monk is expected to celebrate his 90th birthday on July 6 with huge crowds in northern India, his base since leaving his homeland fleeing Chinese troops in 1959. He has said his landmark birthday will also be a time to encourage people to plan for an eventual future without him and to address whether the Tibetan people want, in time, another Dalai Lama. While China condemns him as a rebel and separatist, the internationally recognized Dalai Lama describes himself as a "simple Buddhist monk." Many exiled Tibetans fear China will name a successor to bolster control over a territory it poured troops into in 1950. The Dalai Lama stepped down as his people's political head in 2011, passing the baton of secular power to a government chosen democratically by 130,000 Tibetans around the world. 'Free world' Penpa Tsering, the sikyong or head of the government based in India's Himalayan hill town of McLeod Ganj, said that on July 2 there would be a meeting of the most senior Tibetan religious elders, or lamas. "There will be a brief meeting of all the head lamas, which is about nine of them, meeting with His Holiness [the Dalai Lama]," Tsering told reporters, adding that after that, they would open a religious meeting. "At the opening of the religious conference there will be a video message from His Holiness," he added. No details were given as to what the message will be, but there is widespread support among Tibetans in exile for the post of Dalai Lama to continue. The Dalai Lama has already said that if there "is a consensus that the Dalai Lama institution should continue," then the Office of the Dalai Lama—the Gaden Phodrang Trust in McLeod Ganj—would hold the responsibility for the recognition of the next leader. He has also made it clear that any successor would by necessity be "born in the free world." The Dalai Lama has said it does not seek full independence for Tibet, but rather to pursue a long-standing "Middle Way" policy seeking greater autonomy. The current Dalai Lama was identified in 1936 when, aged two, he passed a test by pointing to objects that had belonged to the post's previous occupier. He was hailed as the 14th reincarnation of the Dalai Lama, a role that stretches back more than 600 years. — Agence France-Presse
