Immigration reshuffles top officials

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) is reshuffling ranking officials in a revamp based on a memorandum signed by BI Commissioner Ricardo David Jr. BI Associate Commissioner Abdullah Mangotara announced the revamp during the agency’s 71st founding anniversary over the weekend. Drawing opposition from some agency officials and personnel, David ordered at least six BI officials to vacate their posts and assume new assignments as recommended by BI Associate Commissioner Siegfried Mison. The revamp affected former BI officer-in-charge Atty. Ronaldo Ledesma, who will be transferred to the Alien Registration Division (ARD) from his position as chair of the Board of Special Inquiry (BSI); Atty. Felino Quirante Jr., who will assume the position of BI-Makati office head from being administrative chief; Danilo Almeda, who will be moved to the office of Immigration Regulation Division (IRD) chief from the post of ARD chief; and Alberto Braganza, who was made BI-Pasay extension office head from serving as IRD chief. Also, BI-Makati head Atty. Estanislao Canta is now BSI chair while Atty. Edmund Macaraig, BI-Pasay chief, was recalled to his mother unit, BSI. The bureau is still crafting an official statement regarding the revamp, BI spokesperson Maria Antonette Mangrobang told GMA News Online. Constructive dismissal The reshuffle, however, demoralized a number of BI employees. “We will contest this move before the courts. We cannot allow this because this will set a very bad and dangerous precedent," said a reshuffled official who requested anonymity. The official explained that the BI commissioner and associate commissioners cannot simply remove a key official and transfer him or her to a lesser position without a valid reason. He said doing so is tantamount to constructive dismissal. “Those who were reshuffled have valid reasons to oppose their reassignments because all of them hold plantilla and permanent positions protected by civil service laws," said another Immigration official who refused to be named. — PE/VS, GMA News