Syndicated

FIRST PERSON

- ALEX MAGNO

Every other man on the street, who is not a senator, knows exactly how people like Harry Roque and Alice Guo managed to slip out of the country past the border controls of the Bureau of Immigration (BI).

Have money, will travel. There are enough syndicates involving law enforcers themselves ready to facilitate one's flight from the law.

We have a long history of political and criminal personalities slipping out of our borders with ease. Recall how Geny Lopez and Serge Osmeña slipped out of their cells and through the country's backdoor in the cruelest days of martial rule.

For a fee, there is never a shortage of "facilitators" to make the impossible entirely feasible. There are enough syndicates with vast international connections to make the most dramatic escapes happen.

Freshly installed BI Commissioner Joel Anthony Viado has moved fast and decisively the last few days to restore his bureau's effective control over cross-border movements.

Last Monday, Viado closed a vital loophole that allowed deportees to avoid being returned to their home countries to face the law there. He issued a memorandum banning the use of flights with layovers when deporting illegal and undesirable aliens to their countries of origin.

Whenever possible, the order states, deportees must be boarded on direct flights to their home countries. Upon arrival, they are handed directly to law enforcement authorities in foreign countries.