MANILA — The Philippine National Police Maritime Group (PNP MG) said it is monitoring “backdoor” routes to prevent personalities tagged in flood control anomalies from fleeing the country.
The “backdoor pass” refers to illegal exit points in the southern Philippines allegedly used to bypass port security and transfer people to Malaysia and eventually to other destinations abroad, as Sen. Raffy Tulfo revealed in a privilege speech in September 2024.
Asked about the possibility that those implicated in the flood control mess might escape through the “backdoor,” PNP MG deputy director Col. Pedro Martirez Jr. said his unit is keeping a close watch.
“That’s also among what we’re monitoring,” he said in Filipino in a press briefing in Camp Crame on Monday.
“If a case has now been filed against these personalities, we will immediately hold them to prevent them from leaving the country,” he added.
The Maritime Group is the PNP’s unit tasked with overseeing police functions in the country’s territorial waters, including its ports of entry and exit.
At least 33 personalities in the alleged anomalies were the subject of immigration lookout bulletin orders requested by the Independent Commission for Infrastructure and issued by the Department of Justice.
The list includes President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s cousin and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez, as well as former Senate President Francis Escudero, Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Joel Villanueva, and former Senators Bong Revilla and Nancy Binay. (Jason Sigales © Philippine Daily Inquirer)
