AN IMMIGRATION lookout bulletin order (LBO) has been issued by the Department of Justice (DOJ) against executives of British School of Manila (BSM) who are facing criminal and civil suits for the death of 18-year-old student Liam Madamba last year.
In a four-page order released Monday, acting DOJ Secretary Emmanuel Caparas ordered the Bureau of Immigration to include in the LBO the 16 BSM officers led by head of school Simon Mann.
Others included in the LBO are Trevor Lewis, Brendan Egan, Martyn Turner, Bill Twedell, Simon Bewley, Etein Melsbo, Bart Edes, Pul Ingram, Alison Doig Henderson, Andrew Logan, Alan Hearn, Anne Haslam, David Gold, Angel Guerrero and Catherine Tantoco-Daniels.
The LBO was issued to prevent their flight while facing preliminary investigation on charges of obstruction of justice filed against them by Madamba’s mother Trixie.
“Considering that the abovementioned individuals are the subject of an on-going investigation, and there is a strong possibility that they may attempt to place themselves beyond the reach of the legal processes of this department by leaving the country, the handling public prosecutor of the case has duly indorsed for the issuance of an Immigration Lookout Bulletin Order (ILBO) against the subject persons, in order to at least monitor the itineraries of their flight, travel, and/or whereabouts,” the order stated.
Caparas said immigration officers should be “on the lookout/alert for the (subject) individuals should they pass through the immigration counters in any of our international ports and/or seaports.”
Caparas also ordered the immigration personnel to “obtain from the Office of the Prosecutor General the proper office or official to contact even outside office hours, in case any of the subject makes an attempt to leave the country.”
Caparas issued the LBO upon recommendation by Prosecution Attorney Ma. Caren Gail De Alban-Avila, who is handling the PI on the criminal charges before the DOJ.
A preliminary investigation was conducted last January but the respondents did not appear. Instead, they sought more time to answer the charges.
Trixie Madamba filed the complaint for violation of Presidential Decree (PD) No. 1829 or obstruction of justice against respondents in October last year.
Liam, a top-notch student of BSM, jumped from the 6th floor of a carpark in Makati City in February last year after he was accused by his teacher, Natalie Mann, of plagiarism.
Mrs. Madamba alleged that the BSM administration “tampered and altered reports to conceal if not to impede an exhaustive investigation of the facts surrounding Liam’s death” and “willfully harbored and facilitated the escape” of Mann.
Mrs. Madamba also filed administrative complaint against the school before the Department of Education for alleged violation of the child protection policies.
Aside from the administrative complaint, Mrs. Madamba filed in December last year a P100-million civil case against the school before the Taguig City regional trial court.