Ping Lacson Under Immigration Watchlist

In a bicameral conference committee in the Senate where the Philippine Immigration Act of 1009 was deliberated, Bureau of Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan confirmed that based on their record, Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson has left the country last January 5, 2010 en route to Hong Kong via Cathay Pacific flight CX 904.  From Hong Kong, the Bureau said, it had no authority to trace whether the reports are true that Lacson subsequently left for Australia.

Up to this report, the BI has no record of Lacson’s return to the Philippines nor they are monitoring whether Lacson has already returned via “back door”.  Libanan clarified that Lacson is merely under watchlist and that there is no hold departure order against the senator.  The order for watchlist was handed two days after Lacson was formally charged in court for the double murder case of Dacer and Corbito.