The Bureau of Immigration (BI) has apprehended 542 aliens in a raid on an illegal Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) company in Parañaque City.
BI Commissioner Jaime Morente said the foreign nationals were arrested the other night at the Millenium Building through the joint intelligence operations of the BI, the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines in coordination with the Chinese Embassy.
The arrested aliens were mostly male and made up of 442 Chinese, 23 Vietnamese, 25 Malaysians, three Indonesians, 45 Burmese, and four Taiwanese.
“They were arrested for working without permit and for being undocumented aliens,” said Morente.
Fortunato Manahan, Jr., chief of the BI intelligence division revealed the foreigners were involved in some sort of telecommunications fraud, similar to budol-budol and their victims are mostly from mainland China.
Morente clarified the role of the BI in arresting aliens, saying “If the alien committed a criminal act, it is under the jurisdiction of the local authorities and if they violated immigration laws we charge them separately with deportation.”
The BI chief issued the clarification following questions on the role of BI in arresting foreign nationals.
“It is within our policy not to implement deportation unless local cases are cleared already. If the alien needs to serve time in our local jails then so be it, this is to ensure the full effect of justice,” he added.
The aliens are currently detained at the National Capital Region Police Office in Bicutan, Taguig. (Jun Ramirez)