Witness: Immigration officials named Chinese passengers cleared under pastillas scam

High-ranking officials of the Bureau of Immigration (BI) supplied the names of Chinese passengers who were allowed entry to the country without proper inspection in exchange for grease money, also known as the pastillas scam, an Immigration personnel said Wednesday.

Prosecution witness and Immigration officer Allison Chiong made the testimony during the trial on the six counts of graft cases filed against former BI deputy commissioner Marc Mariñas and at least 49 others before the Sandiganbayan Seventh Division for allegedly conspiring with other Immigration personnel.

The Immigration officials also allegedly conspired with Liya Wu of Empire International Travel and Tours to "willfully, unlawfully and give unwarranted benefits, preference or advantage to foreign passengers, particularly Chinese nationals."

The group allegedly collected a fee of P10,000 per passenger, wrapped in small pieces of paper like the dessert pastillas, for a total amount of P1.43 million in violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

Chiong, during the cross-examination of the defense counsels, said that the suppliers of the Chinese passengers’ names who are allowed entry without proper inspection were Francis Dennis “DR” Robles, Glenn Ford Silang Comia a.k.a. “Orange”, Rodolfo Magbuhos, Jr., Deon Carlo “Nancy” Albao, Danieve Hije “Den” Binsol a.k.a. “Denden”, Pauk Erick Borja and Anthony Lopez.

“They confirmed to me their aliases and contribution to the pastillas scheme. They told me [about it] and I experienced it too,” Chong told the Sandiganbayan Seventh Division.

“Upon arrival, the Chinese nationals were allowed in without being inspected,” she said.

Asked by the defense if he saw how the money was given, she said, “It is from the bosses; they give it to us.”

The defense team then clarified if Chiong saw purported Chinese “pastillas” passengers giving money to immigration officers, the witness said, No.

During the cross-examination, Chiong was also made to read portions of his judicial affidavit and his previous affidavit with three supplemental affidavits.

Chiong said that in 2016, Robles personally supervised the entry of two Chinese nationals to his counter.

“They have tourist visa, [and] it was inconsistent with their travel itinerary that they would stay only in Metro Manila,” she stated in his affidavit.

“Robles instructed me to let them pass through without secondary inspection. I followed Robles since he is my superior, I did not want to be on his bad side,” she added.

Chiong also confirmed to the defense counsel that he only alleged that Maria Victoria Jogno was involved in the pastillas scam in his judicial affidavit in 2026.

In the said affidavit, Chiong said "I (Chiong) have personally witnessed, on a regular basis, her (Jogno) processing of “pastillas” passengers because the counters assigned for the pastillas passengers are arranged adjacent to each other. The act of giving seamless entry to passengers by IOs is within the clear view of each member." —LDF, GMA News