Pubdate: Thu, 22 Jul 2004 Source: Manila Times (Philippines) Copyright: 2004, The Manila Times Contact: http://www.manilatimes.net/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/921 Author: Jomar Canlas, Correspondent AGENTS WANT BI OFFICIAL IN CHINESE CASE RELIEVED THREE agents of Bureau of Immigration on Wednesday asked the Department of Justice to suspend a ranking immigration official who is under investigation for allegedly securing the release of an illegal alien reportedly running an illegal drug trade in the country. In a six-page position paper immigration intelligence officers Ansari Macaayan, Maclin Lanto and Andrian Amangondato asked Acting Justice Secretary Maria Merceditas Gutierrez to suspend Associate Commissioner Teodoro Delarmente while an investigation is being conducted against him. The three agents were the ones who nabbed Chinese Li Yong-cheng, a suspected illegal drug trader, on June 26. "We pray that pending investigation, Associate Commissioner Delarmente be relieved of his function as associate commissioner for intelligence. His actions of harboring and ordering the release of an illegal alien, who is suspected of being a drug trafficker, is illegal and highly irregular," said a part of the agents' position paper. The agents said Delarmente scolded them for apprehending Li on a Saturday, and without a mission order, before he ordered the Chinese's release. The agents pointed out that this was not the first time that Delarmente became aware of an arrest made by bureau's agents, particularly Macaayan, on a Saturday and without a mission order. The previous arrest made without a mission order happened on June 19, 2004, when four Indians were nabbed. The three agents said it was highly questionable why Delar-mente did not question the arrest, but acted differently when Li was arrested under the same circumstances. The three agents maintained that the arrest of Li was within the parameters of immigration laws since the Chinese was in continuous violation of the country's laws. The justice department had already ordered Immigration Commissioner Alipio Fernandez Jr. on July 9, 2004, to investigate allegations that Delarmente had committed an irregularity when he asked for the release of the undocumented Li. Before his arrest, Li had been placed under a month-long surveillance owing to a police report that he was operating an electrical supply shop in Caloocan City as a front for illegal activities. The immigration agents arrested him after he failed to produce personal documents and his passport was found to have expired in 2002 yet. - --- MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart