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<p>MANILA - The camp of a Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) branch manager being linked to an $81-million money-laundering transaction is seriously considering filing charges against Bureau of Immigration (BI) officers after they barred her from leaving the country on Friday, saying they violated her constitutional right to travel.</p><p>Speaking to ANC on Saturday, RCBC Jupiter, Makati branch manager Maia Santos Deguito&#x27;s legal counsel, Atty. Ferdinand Topacio, stressed that his client has no pending cases and no hold departure order (HDO) has been issued against her.</p><p>&quot;Therefore, her constitutional right to travel has been blatantly disregarded and ignored,&quot; Topacio said.</p><p>The Bureau of Immigration (BI) admitted that there is no HDO against Deguito. But BI Deputy Commissioner Atty. Gilbert Repizo said immigration officers only acted on a lookout bulletin order issued against her.</p><p>Topacio, however, cited the case of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and her husband, Mike Arroyo, who secured a temporary restraining order (TRO) from the Supreme Court (SC) against a watch list order issued by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the BI back in 2011.</p><p>&quot;Yes, we are seriously considering the matter (filing charges). I think we are on solid legal footing here considering there is a subscripting and valid [TRO] against the [DOJ] and the Bureau of Immigration and Deportation in the 2011 case of Arroyo vs Secretary of Justice, where I&#x27;m also one of the legal counsels, which expressly prohibits the BID from implementing a watch list or lookout order which was used to offload Ms. Deguito and her family including a 10-year-old son from the plane bound for Narita, Japan,&quot; he said.</p><p>WATCH: <a href="http://news.abs-cbn.com/video/business/v3/03/11/16/rcbc-manager-na-idinadawit-sa-money-laundering-hinarang-sa-naia" target="_blank"><strong>RCBC manager na idinadawit sa money laundering, hinarang sa NAIA</strong></a></p><p>Topacio also maintained that Deguito had no plans of fleeing the country. He said the family&#x27;s trip to Japan had long been planned and Deguito even had a letter addressed to the Senate indicating her intention to attend the hearing into the scam on Tuesday.</p><p>The lawyer assured that Deguito is ready to face all allegations against her in the proper forum, saying they have evidence to prove her innocence in the case.</p><p>Businessman William Go, who is also linked to the money-laundering scheme, has accused Deguito of being at the center of the cross-border transfer of stolen money from Bangladesh Bank to the Philippines by setting up fake accounts.</p><p>Go&#x27;s lawyer, Ramon Esguerra, said his client&#x27;s supposed US dollar account in RCBC Jupiter branch was opened without his knowledge and participation using forged signatures.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><div style="padding-top:66.375%"><div id="IVS_ABS_Body_Video_1_Container"> <ivs-player id="IVS_ABS_Body_Video_1" data-ivs-spid="3001339" data-ivs-key="e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603" data-ivs-vid="1480929" data-ivs-floating="1"></ivs-player> <script src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/js/iframe-parent.js"></script> <script src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/js/loader.js"></script> </div></div></figure><div><strong>COVER-UP?</strong></div><p>An emotional Deguito, in an interview on radio dzMM Friday, vehemently denied any involvement in the money-laundering scheme.</p><p>The branch manager pointed to top officials of the bank as having approved the fund remittance, which goes through the bank&#x27;s main office in accordance with proper procedures.</p><p>According to Topacio, it is &quot;suspicious&quot; that RCBC President Lorenzo Tan has not been suspended in light of the case.</p><p>He expressed fears of a &quot;cover-up wherein my client is going to become the fall guy and the rest of the bank officials, the high-ranking bank officials...will be exonerated by the bank.&quot;</p><p>&quot;It is easy to make accusations against other people, but as the Supreme Court said, accusation is not synonymous with guilt. But I trust the people. At the pay scale of a branch manager, at her level, do you think she will be in a position to be bribing people? Do you think she would be in a position to be doing the things attributed to her like opening allegedly fictitious accounts if there are no orders from above? Mr. Go will have to prove his accusations in court,&quot; said Topacio.</p><p>READ: <strong><a href="http://news.abs-cbn.com/business/03/11/16/rcbc-branch-manager-wala-akong-kasalanan" target="_blank">RCBC branch manager: Wala akong kasalanan</a></strong></p><div><strong>LEGAL BASIS</strong></div><p>The BI, for its part, insisted that immigration officials had legal basis -- the lookout bulletin order -- in stopping Deguito from leaving the country.</p><p>Repizo also denied that they violated Deguito&#x27;s constitutional right to travel.</p><p>&quot;I would not say that it poses a danger to the constitutional right to travel. There is the constitutional right to travel pero meron din area yan na kung saan the bureau can exercise certain functions for a greater purpose,&quot; Repizo said.</p><p>&quot;Wala naman sigurong masama on their part na ma-defer yung kanilang departure especially so that Atty. Topacio has admitted na meron namang Senate hearing. So it will be for the benefit of all, not just of the RCBC, the banking industry, but even the subject herself, because she&#x27;ll have the opportunity to really clear herself before the proper forum,&quot; he added.</p>

<p>MANILA - The camp of a Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) branch manager being linked to an $81-million money-laundering transaction is seriously considering filing charges against Bureau of Immigration (BI) officers after they barred her from leaving the country on Friday, saying they violated her constitutional right to travel.</p>

MANILA - The camp of a Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) branch manager being linked to an $81-million money-laundering transaction is seriously considering filing charges against Bureau of Immigration (BI) officers after they barred her from leaving the country on Friday, saying they violated her constitutional right to travel.

RCBC branch manager mulls charges over offloading

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RCBC branch manager mulls charges over offloading

ABS-CBN News

Published March 12, 2016 03:46 PM PHT

|

Updated October 13, 2016 01:59 PM PHT

Read More:

ANC

ANC Top

Maia Santos Deguito

Ferdinand Topacio

William Go

money laundering

RCBC

Bangladesh Bank

Bureau of Immigration

offloading

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