Senator Chiz Escudero welcomed the appointment of recently retired Armed Forces chief of staff Ricardo David as head of the Bureau of Immigration (BI), as he challenged the new immigration head to restore the image of the graft-ridden agency.
Three days after David ended his tour of duty in the military, Malacanang announced his appointment to replace Ledesma, who was being blamed for the fiasco involving the deportation of 14 Taiwanese nationals.
Escudero, chairman of the Senate committee on justice and human rights, said the appointment of David was a positive move in light of the issues confronting the bureau that need immediate attention.
Escudero last week sought the resignation and immediate replacement of Ledesma for mishandling the deportation of 14 Taiwanese nationals to mainland China, which has “jeopardized the country’s economic ties with Taiwan and put at risk current employment for almost 100,000 Filipinos in Taiwan and causing lost job opportunities for thousands more.”
While welcoming David’s entry into the immigration bureau, Escudero also challenged the new BI head to rid the agency of corruption and improve the level of performance in the bureau to make more efficient and reliable.
“I expect General David to put things in order in the bureau and address the nagging issues of corruption. We want to see a newly reformed immigration bureau under the tight watch of the new chief,” Escudero said.
