Alien deportations cost millions
PAOCC Undersecretary Gilbert Cruz did not provide the exact cost of processing and deporting the undesirable aliens
Daily TribunePAOCC Undersecretary Gilbert Cruz did not provide the exact cost of processing and deporting the undesirable aliens
Busted! A busload of Chinese nationals are secured by police ahead of their deportation after they were detained in a raid on a suspected sex trafficking and online scam operation in Pasay City, on 14 December. Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese and Filipino nationals were among the nearly 600 people found inside a compound during the operation in October.(JAM STA ROSA/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE)
The government is spending millions of pesos to process and deport illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator workers, an official of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission, or PAOCC, revealed on Thursday.
The government has deported 180 Chinese POGO workers who were arrested in Pasay City last October for lacking proper immigration and labor documentation. In an interview with reporters, PAOCC Undersecretary Gilbert Cruz said the government is forced to spend millions of pesos for the care and deportation of Chinese POGO workers.
However, he did not provide the exact cost of processing and deporting the undesirable aliens.
"We can't neglect their rights as human beings. So it would help if you fed them, give what should be given to them," Cruz said.
"If they're sick, we send them to the hospital. Even in cases like deporting them, we're the ones who spend," he added.
Cruz said the 180 Chinese workers — the largest batch of deportees to date — failed to present employment permits.
"They're already blacklisted, right? They can't come back here anymore. And in China, of course, they will also be charged there. The Chinese embassy is cooperating with us on the cases that will be filed," he said.
He said there were instances where the people they were trying to deport came up with schemes to keep them in the country.
"Actually, the last time, there was an incident inside the airport. Two of them pretended to faint to avoid being deported," Cruz said.
"They succeeded because the airline advised against letting them board, saying they might be unwell. But when we took them to where they were staying, they could walk just fine. In short, they were just acting," Cruz said.
Months ago, the Department of Justice warned that some overstaying aliens were stopping their deportation by having their girlfriends file charges against them so they would have to stay to attend court proceedings.
The usual complaint filed against the deportees is for violation of Republic Act 9262, or the law penalizing violence against women and children.
The 180 Chinese POGO workers were declared undesirable aliens after being caught working at the Smart Web Technology hub without proper immigration documents. The raid led to the discovery of seven Filipinas working in a massage parlor on the second floor of the hub.
