IN an interview by People’s Tonight with Atty. Antonette Bucasas-Mangrobang, chief of intelligence of the Bureau of Immigration (BI), over the escape of Korean fugitive Kim Tae Dong last December 24, 2011, she said that a panel chaired by Asst. Comm. Siegfred B. Mison was already wrapping up the result of their investigation.

Although she refused to say how far up in the BI ladder of responsibility are to be included, what is clear is that Kim’s two assigned guards at the time of his escape, SG1 Eduardo Dulay and CA (confidential agent) Noel Acedillo, are sure to take the blame.

Mangrobang pointed out that Dulay and Acedillo had admitted to accepting a can of beer from Kim inside his air-conditioned room at the St. Luke’s Hospital in Taguig City, in short, of “socializing” with the suspect they are supposed to guard, a big ‘no-no’ under any circumstances.

Acedillo and Dulay allegedy “fell dizzy” as soon as they sipped the beer, fell asleep and woke up later to find out that Kim had escaped.

But in his defense, Dulay noted that even the “high walls and barbed wire fence of Alcatraz, Fort Bonifacio, Camp Crame and the New Bilibid Prison” are “no match” to a lone but resolute and indomitable prisoner whose only intention is to seek freedom through unlawful means.”

Dulay’s statement, a copy of which was given to People’s Tonight, also revealed some details that are yet hidden from the public up to now.

In the statement, Dulay noted that Kim’s escape was “well-planned, well-financed and was perpetrated by a band of well-connected men whose obvious desire is to enrich themselves at the expense of unsuspecting security escorts who are no match to their resources, dexterity and cleverness and whom they drugged just to ensure that Kim’s flight to freedom is but a ‘walk in the park.’

“In other words, no matter how tight the security is and whoever is assigned to secure Kim would certainly fail not only because he is a resolute and indomitable detainee but, further, he has at his disposal huge resources and a bunch of devious men,” Dulay said.

Intriguingly, Dulay cited a visit of a “lawyer and a high-ranking official” from the bureau days before his escape where they had a two-and-a-half-hour “heart-to-heart talk.”

“This is highly anomalous especially so if the visit is unofficial or without the prior authority of their superiors,” Dulay noted.

HAS TWO PASSPORTS, WILL TRAVEL

Indeed, circumstances leading to Kim’s escape point to the conclusion that he has been provided assistance by a bunch of “devious men” (and possibly women too) even during the time he is under hospital arrest at St. Luke’s.

BI records show that although Kim was a holder of passport number M56507776 and which placed his date of birth on June 14, 1957, his picture -- the same picture provided by the Korean Embassy to the BI -- also appeared in another Korean passport, M19208741, this time under the name of Myunghyun Beck, born February 21, 1958.

Kim’s original passport was issued on December 8, 2008 to expire on December 4, 2018, while that of Beck was issued on August 30, 2011, to expire on October 9, 2019.

BI records likewise revealed that on September 5, 2011, Beck arrived on board Philippine Airlines flight PR417, several minutes before midnight at the Terminal 2 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA-2).

He then departed on September 17, 2011 on board PR416 and was backed in the country on October 14, 2011, passing thru NAIA-1 on board Korean Air flight number KE621.

People’s Tonight sources at the BI noted that the information given by the Korean Embassy later that Kim would mostly likely slip out of the country using a “fake passport most probably under an assumed name” was, at best, misleading, and at worst, downright false.

Looking at the dates of Beck’s travels from the date his passport was issued, they are inclusive of the entire time that Kim was supposedly under medical treatment at the St. Luke’s Hospital.

Although the Korean Embassy refused to comment when contacted by People’s Tonight, Mangrobang confirmed that indeed, Beck and Kim is one and the same person and that Beck’s passport was indeed issued by his government.

Mangrobang cited a letter to David by the Korean Embassy dated January 30, 2012, confirming this.

The letter also said the Korean police has been asked to conduct an investigation to help answer the question why Kim, a fugitive arrested by Philippine authorities in response to the request by his own government, suddenly ended up owning two authentic passports.

But if this “mystery” is not enough, Dulay, further in his statement, said: “(I)t can be safely and reasonably concluded” that Kim’s picture that then appeared in the passport for Beck, “was acquired by somebody who has connection with the (a) the Office of the Commissioner (David) and/or the Intelligence Division (Mangrobang) and which (this somebody) successfully used with the help of modern technology and, (b), the Korean authorities who helped him process the passport (in the name of Beck) even without the personal appearance of Kim.”

It should be noted that while Kim was in a coat and tie in the picture appearing in his original passport, he was in a striped shirt with no collar in the passport issued to Beck -- the same picture provided by the Korean Embassy and which the BI is now using in its alert notice against Kim.