The Office of the Ombudsman only took notice after Senator Hontiveros conducted a protracted Senate investigation. ![]() It took the Office of the Ombudsman several years before cases were filed with the Sandiganbayan against the immigration personnel implicated by Chiong. ![]() Risa Hontiveros when my exposé in my column in The Manila Times was not acted upon by higher-ups in the Duterte administration. Immigration Officer Alex Chiong first spilled the beans to me about the illegal activities of his colleagues, and then went to Sen. The very long court hearings against the people they are testifying against have taken a toll on them.Ĭhiong and Alvarez are under the Witness Protection Program (WPP) of the Department of Justice.Ĭhiong exposed the human trafficking at the Manila International Airport that involved many of his fellow immigration officers.Īlvarez, on the other hand, exposed the purchase of refurbished UH-1H helicopters “harvested” from the junkyard by officials of the Department of National Defense (DND) during the time of president Noynoy Aquino. Whistleblowers like Allison Chiong and Rhodora Alvarez, for example, are disgruntled over the government’s clumsy handling of their safety: they were virtual prisoners and could not go out, if at all, for a breath of fresh air. If the government continues to treat whistleblowers like the criminals that they expose, we will never have whistleblowers in the future. It seems the search committee of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos didn’t thoroughly vet the nominees for the energy secretary.Īll the other appointees to other Cabinet positions have been chosen well, especially those dealing with finance and the economy. What if, in the future, Lotilla would be placed in a position to decide on a complaint against his former employer? Main image: A man's shadow is seen on a wall.What was the basis for the appointment of Raphael Perpetuo Lotilla as Department of Energy secretary, when until recently he worked for the Aboitiz Power Corp?Īre there no other nominees who are not connected with any power company? "They are encouraged to find jobs or find work if they can - but as far as we're aware the State do pay". "They are given money, because they're pretty much asked to pack in their jobs. "The State houses them, as far as we know, as long as they're part of the programme. "The Gardaí here don't offer protection in a foreign jurisdiction, but they would have a number to call from local law enforcement if there was any issues they might have". "They need completely new papers, a totally new identity - it's how it works obviously. "They do re-settle them abroad, but it's done within the passport system here as far as we're aware. New identities are given to people within the passport system. "So the Gardaí do work with law enforcement from other countries to house or home witnesses they might have". "We also have people in Ireland who are part of the witness protection programmes from other jurisdictions. " UK, USA, Canada, Australia, South Africa - mainly because obviously that will help them settle more. "They send people, certainly from Ireland, to English-speaking countries. "They can request more if there's a particular year where more people go into it." Where do people go? "There's no Government involvement as such - they do have an annual budget of about €1.5 million to €2 million. ![]() "No legislation was brought in to legalise it. He said the programme has no legislation or oversight "It's been in the headlines over recent years because of the witness Joey O'Callaghan, and the popular podcast has brought it back into the spotlight". "But it still exists, it's a very small programme - there's a dedicated, small secretive unit within the Gardaí who look after it. "Over the years there's been a number of people who have come into it and then come out of it. He said it is a relatively small operation. "The three of them, as far as we're aware, are still part of that programme". "The first people who entered the programme were Russell Warren, Charles Bowden and John Dunne - who were the three main State witnesses against Gilligan back at this trial back in 2000. "The Witness Protection Programme - or in Ireland as it's called the Witness Security Programme - was introduced as part of the investigation into the murder of Veronica Guerin. He told Moncrieff there are only about 20 to 30 people in Ireland's WSP, including some families. Michael Doyle is a news reporter with the Irish Sun.
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