On Monday afternoon, the Bureau of Immigration announced that BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco had terminated the employment of a job order employee who had been detained on 22 November in Muntinlupa.

According to the Bureau, the said employee, along with nine other people, allegedly pretended to be from the National Bureau of Investigation. They detained and attempted to rob a Chinese national living at the Ayala Alabang Village, and were then apprehended by Southern Police District agents.

It was learned that during the arrest, the suspect identified himself as an immigration officer.

The BI chief clarified that, upon checking their records, they confirmed that the suspect is not an immigration officer but rather a job order employee.

Tansingco said that as a job-order employee, he was not authorized to conduct arrests and was actually assigned to do simple office tasks. Job-order employees are contractual personnel of the Bureau, with six-month contracts to render office services for the agency.

Upon learning of the incident and the misrepresentation, Tansingco immediately ordered the termination of the said employee, and the Bureau is closely coordinating with the PNP to ensure that the filing of criminal charges against the employee is pursued.

"People like him tarnish the name of the bureau that we work so hard to improve," said Tansingco. "We will not tolerate any such illegal activities, hence we immediately terminated his services, and he will continue to face any criminal charges that might be filed against him," he said.