Justice Secretary Leila De Lima INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
Two of Vice President Jejomar Binay’s aides, who have been sought by the Senate in its inquiry of the corruption allegations against Binay, have not left the country based on Bureau of Immigration records, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said on Monday.
De Lima, however, said she has asked the National Bureau of Investigation to check if Gerardo Limlingan and Eduviges Baloloy left via the country’s “backdoors.”
The NBI would ask the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines to check on records of chartered flights that Limlingan or Baloloy could have taken, De Lima added.
She said she has also ordered the NBI to verify Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV’s latest information that Limlingan and Baloloy have left the country.
READ: 2 top Binay aides have fled PH–Trillanes
The Secretary said the BI record of one Gerardo Simpao Limlingan, born April 11, 1942, showed his latest departure on Oct. 11, 2003 and latest arrival on Oct. 17, 2003. The record of Eduviges Duenas Baloloy, born Oct. 17, 1950, showed the latest departure on Sept. 2, 2014 and latest arrival on Sept. 6, 2014.
“They have no recent travels. So it would appear from the BI database that they’re supposed to be only here in the country. But, of course, we cannot rule out departures via backdoors, like the use of chartered planes, private planes, because that happened in the past in certain cases, so we’re checking,” she said.
“If that’s the case, normally we ask CAAP, because CAAP would have records of all chartered flights. But as to whether they would know exactly who are the passengers of the chartered flights, we don’t really know if that is possible,” De Lima added.
De Lima earlier formed a team of NBI agents to look for Limlingan and Baloloy who disappeared in the midst of a Senate inquiry into corruption charges against Vice President Jejomar Binay.
“Up to this very day, they can’t find them. So, are they still in the Philippines or not? We will verify that. If there is an indication that they have left, then we will have to take further steps, such as coordinating with counterpart [law enforcement agencies] and also the possible cancellation of their passports so that finding them will easier if it turned our their already out of the country,” she said. SFM