Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra yesterday said he has signed an immigration look-out bulletin order (ILBO) on Chinese businessman and former President Duterte’s economic adviser Michael Yang in connection with the request by the Senate which is pursuing an inquiry on the alleged overpriced purchase of personal protective equipment from Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation.
Guevarra directed the Bureau of Immigration “to be on the lookout/alert for the above-named individual in the event that he may pass through immigration counters in any of our international airports and or seaports.”
The issuance of the ILBO was based on the request of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee chaired by Sen. Richard Gordon who asked Guevarra to issue either a hold departure order, watchlist or ILBO on Yang and to inform the Senate “whenever he is about to leave or whenever he arrives from without the country.”
This came several hours after Guevarra issued an ILBO on former Budget Management-Procurement Service chief Lloyd Christopher Lao as well as Overall Deputy Ombudsman Warren Rex Liong and six others in connection with the same controversy.
Subject of the earlier ILBO aside from Lao and Liong are Pharmally officials Linconn Ong, Justine Garado, Krizle Grace Mago, Huang Tzu Yen, Mohit Dargani and Twinkle Dargani.
Guevarra clarified that an ILBO is for “monitoring purposes only, and it is not, in and of itself, a sufficient prohibition for a subject’s departure from the Philippines.” However, a person subject to an ILBO must seek an allow-departure order from the DOJ chief to be allowed to leave.
Courts usually issue hold departure order upon the request of the prosecution or government agencies when a case was filed against an individual. However, in 2018, the Supreme Court allowed courts to issue precautionary hold departure orders even if the case is still with the prosecutor.
But three of the individuals in the ILBO – Huang and the Darganis — are already out of the country.
Guevarra said “the BI will make the proper arrangements for monitoring” their travel movements abroad.
