By JUN RAMIREZ
The Bureau of Immigration (BI) announced yesterday its first ever mass deportation of 47 South Korean fugitives wanted for various crimes in their homeland.
BI Commissioner Jaime Morente said the Koreans were deported last Dec. 14 and were turned over to Korean police authorities upon their arrival at the international airport in Incheon.
Morente added that 45 of the deportees were flown aboard a Jeju Air flight from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) while the two others, who were arrested in Cebu, departed from Mactan on the same day.
They were turned over to Korean Police authorites by DoJ Secretary Vitaliano N. Aguirre II.
“All of them were expelled pursuant to deportation orders issued by our board of commissioners and they were all placed in our blacklist of undesirable aliens to prevent them from re-entering the Philippines,” Morente said.
He added that the deportation orders was arranged in line with the BI’s efforts to decongest its detention facility in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City.
Some of the deportees have been “overstaying” in their cells even if there were no more legal impediments to their deportation.
“We have secured the necessary clearances to make sure that they have no pending civil and criminal cases before our courts,” the BI chief said.
Lawyer Ma. Antonette Mangrobang, BI spokesperson, disclosed that most of the deportees are wanted in Korea for swindling and internet fraud, including voice phishing, while two of them are wanted for assault and physical injuries and one for illegal drugs.
They also included seven overstaying Koreans who voluntary requested that they be deported.