By William B. Depasupil, Reporter
THE newly-formed antihuman smuggling panel of the Department of Justice failed to get a convincing answer from the Bureau of Immigration on the huge disparity between the number of entry visas issued and actual arrival of visa holders.
During Wednesday’s first fact-finding probe of the panel, the Immigration Regulation Division’s chief, lawyer Gary Mendoza, explained the discrepancy may have been caused by the incomplete records supplied to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) by the Philippine Embassy in India.
Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez ordered the probe in response to a letter from Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan, after bureau records showed a discrepancy of 4,843 between the number of entry visas issued by the Foreign Affairs department and the actual arrival of visa holders from June 2005 to June 2007.
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