Philippine Immigration

At least 100,000 new jobs will be created as a result of the proposed new visa for foreign investors, Bureau of Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan announced yesterday.

The new visa scheme allows indefinite stay in the country for foreign investors who will employ at least 10 Filipinos in viable and sustainable businesses in the Philippines.

Libanan said the proposed new indefinite stay visa, dubbed the "job-generating visa," will be based on actual jobs created by a foreigner’s investments in the Philippines, instead of on his or her supposed capital deposited in the Philippine banking system.

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MANILA, Philippines—With a proposed new visa for foreign investors, more Filipinos would be able to stay in the country instead of having to go abroad to look for work.

In a consultation with the private sector, Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan said the proposed grant of indefinite stay visas to foreigners who employ Filipinos was “a solution to the continued migration of our countrymen.”

The proposed visa would be given to a foreigner who employs at least 10 Filipinos in a local enterprise.

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THE Bureau of Immigration is pushing for a new visa that will allow foreign investors in specified businesses to stay indefinitely as long as they provide employment for at least 10 Filipinos.

Commissioner Marcelino Libanan said the implementing guidelines for the special non-immigrant visa was finalized following a series of public hearings at the bureau’s Manila office attended by different foreign chambers.

“This program is our contribution to the efforts of the administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to generate more jobs for our countrymen and spur the growth of investments and businesses in our country,” the Immigration chief said.

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An overstaying Japanese tourist is now behind bars and facing deportation after he was arrested by Bureau of Immigration (BI) operatives for working in the country without a permit.

Arrested last Wednesday on the strength of a mission order issued by BI Commissioner Marcelino Libanan was Masaaki Hashimoto, 40, who is presently detained at the Bicutan immigration jail. Libanan said Hashimoto, who was arrested in his workplace at the 7th floor of the Magsaysay Bldg. along Roxas Blvd., Manila, is undergoing deportation proceedings for overstaying and illegally working in the country.

“He violated the conditions of his stay by not extending his tourist visa for more than three years and for engaging in gainful employment without the required work permit and visa,” Libanan said.

The immigration act forbids foreigners from working here without first securing a work permit from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and a pre-arranged employment visa from the BI.

Libanan said illegally working foreigners prejudices the interest of Filipino workers who are equally qualified for the jobs performed by said foreigners.

BI-law enforcement division acting chief Wilfredo Poquez disclosed that Hashimoto worked as a business development officer for the Atlantic Globe Movers Inc.,

He said the arresting agents caught the Japanese in the act of performing his job while seated at his office desk.

“We also seized several documents proving that he is indeed in the company’s employ as its business development officer,” Poquez added.

A check of the BI’s travel information records also showed that the Hashimoto’s tourist visa expired on July 21, 2005 and he never bothered to extend or update his stay in the country. (BI News)

‘BI detention center not a boarding house for foreigners’—Libanan

A number of foreigners would rather stay in detention in the Philippines than be sent back to their home countries. But the Bureau of Immigration will not allow this, the reason a Belgian national was deported last month, together with 21 others. Lucas Saeran, a Belgian national, has practically made the BI detention center in Bicutan, Taguig City his home, having stayed in the center for the last five years. He was in detention for being an overstaying and undocumented foreigner.

BI Commissioner Marcelino C. Libanan ordered the deportation of Saeran and several others who had been in detention for over a year, saying the detention center is no boarding house for foreigners.

Records at the BI jail show that the number of detainees has gone down from a high of 160 when Libanan took office last year to only 72 detainees last month. For bringing down the population in the center, the BI was cited by the Commission on Audit for outstanding use of government resources after a value for money audit.

Even Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez has commended Libanan for successfully decongesting the Bicutan jail. “We need more people of your caliber in government who can produce positive results,” Gonzales said in his July 25, 2008 letter congratulating Libanan for a job well done.

BI Chief of Staff, Lawyer Norman Tansingco said the case of Saeran is not unsual, adding that some foreigners would rather want to stay in the center and be with their family in the Philippines.

“Their Filipino family is their only family. Many of them think they have nothing to return to in their home country,” Tansingco said, in citing the reason why these foreign nationals would rather stay in detention, adding that some others though fear returning to their home country as they have pending criminal cases their own country.

Libanan, however, will not allow overstay of foreigners in detention as this results in unreasonable spending by the government, the reason he moved for decongestion of the BI detention center as the cost of keeping detainees was a big drain to the BI budget.

Libanan ordered the BI legal division to expedite the resolution of cases of the foreigners. Aside from Saeran, other illegal foreigners whose cases were given immediate attention were Chinese women suspected of prostitution and fugitives; and American Timothy Leonard Lantz, an alleged pedophile and convicted sex offender in Ohio. (BI News)

AT least 51,000 expatriates have reacquired their Philippine citizenship under the Dual Citizenship Law, which took effect four years ago, Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan said yesterday.

Libanan, a former congressman who was one of the authors of the law, directed an eight-member task force to expedite the processing of applications.

Task force head Arvin Santos said an applicant needs only to pay a processing fee of P3,000 and his or her application will be processed immediately if all the required documents have been submitted.

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MANILA, Philippines -- The Bureau of Immigration (BI) has barred an Israeli-American national from entering the country for insulting and harassing staff of the Philippine embassy in Israel.

Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan said 72-year-old Albert Rosenfeld was placed in the bureau’s blacklist on the request of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

Assistant Secretary Domingo Lucenario Jr. of the DFA's office of consular affairs said Rosenfeld should be blacklisted for "disturbing the peace and harmony" at the Philippine embassy in Tel Aviv and "besmirching the honor of government officers."

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MANILA, Philippines - The Bureau of Immigration (BI) is set to open new field and extension offices in three places in its bid to make services more accessible to foreigners in the Metro Manila and neighboring provinces.

The BI said that the new extension offices would be put up in Pasay City and in the towns of Taytay, Rizal and Sta.Rosa, Laguna.

BI commissioner Marcelino Libanan said Rizal and Laguna were chosen after the bureau recorded an upsurge of foreigners in the two provinces.

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This was the suggestion of Bureau of Immigration Commissioner Marcelino C. Libanan as he called on local government officials to get actively involved in putting to stop this abuse of Filipino women and minors.

Speaking at the Balitaan forum at the Hotel Rambrandt in Quezon City yesterday, Libanan said the modus operandi of human traffickers starts at the barangay where illegal recruiters freely dupe hapless women and children with promises of high paying jobs abroad.
“Human trafficking is a product of illegal recruitment. As a crime, human trafficking is consummated at the point of destination when the victims end up abused or worse, forced to prostitution,” he explained.

According to Libanan syndicates in human trafficking use the right of Filipinos to travel to facilitate their exit from the country. “The right to travel by a Filipino is enshrined in the constitution,” he added.

The BI chief said the character of the crime requires a multi-agency approach in its containment, starting at the point of recruitment.. He said a multi-agency task force led by the Department of Justice is now in place even as the BI has set up systems and technologies that have discouraged human trafficking using the airports.

“But the BI point in the containment of this crime is more at the airports when BI is tipped off or able to profile tourist-workers who are found to be carrying spurious travel papers,” Libanan explained, adding the vigilance at the barangay level should effectively stop the crime.

“The PNP with LGUs should be the first line of the defense. Then the department of Foreign Affairs on the issuance of passports should be second line of defense. The third line of defense is the BI at the ports of exit. Then the last line of defense is the consular office at the place of destination,” Libanan said in describing the check points in the system to prevent abuse of Filipino women and minors abroad.

He said the Philippines is a prime target of human traffickers as source and transit point of their victims because the Philippines is a known labor-sending country.

He said many Filipinos lured by these syndicates end up in prostitution or slavery, and are prone to all sorts of abuse abroad because they don’t have the proper work documents.

Libanan said the BI has a 24/7 hotline to receive reports of violations of immigrations laws aside from providing assistance to the public doing business with the BI. The BI will receive reports even of suspicious illegal recruitment activities especially by foreigners in the country.. BI hotline is 1-800-100-ALIENS or 5236615 and 5243769. BI News

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) has forged an agreement with the Korean Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines Inc. (KCCPI) to facilitate the expeditious processing of visas and other immigration documents of Korean investors and expatriates in the country.

BI Commissioner Marcelino Libanan and KCCPI president Jae Jang signed last Wednesday a memorandum of agreement (MOA) to formalize their partnership and cooperation in servicing the immigration requirements of the thousands of Koreans now doing business or are working in the Philippines.

Libanan hailed the agreement as an important milestone as it would encourage Korean businessmen and tourists entering the country to comply with the country’s immigration laws and regulations and pay their fees, thus generating more revenues for the government.

BI statistics showed that last year alone, more than 700,000 Koreans entered the Philippines either as tourists, expatriates, students, and businessmen.

Koreans also account for the biggest number of foreigners who arrived in the country over the last few years.

Libanan said the accord is the BI’s way of reciprocating the millions of dollars in aid and investment that the Korean government and business community have poured into the country.

He also cited Korea’s policy of opening its labor market to overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), more than 5,000 of whom are now working there, mostly as domestic helpers and factory workers.

Under the MOA, the BI and KCCPI agreed to form a joint committee that will meet regularly to discuss issues and concerns affecting Koreans in the Philippines.

The BI also agreed to inform the KCCPI about any investigation, arrest and detention of a member of the chamber by the bureau’s operatives and legal officers so that the concerned Korean could be provided with legal assistance.

For its part, the chamber promised to inform and educate its members, including their spouses and dependents, about Philippine immigration laws and latest regulations, memoranda rules and regulations issued by the BI through the conduct of seminars where BI officials would serve as resource persons.

While the KCCPI promised to respect the BI’s mandate as chief enforcer of immigration laws, the bureau will also uphold the rights of the chamber’s members and extend to them due courtesy as legitimate investors in the country, the MOA stated. (BI News)

The United States Embassy’s Office of Regional Affairs recently lauded BI Commissioner Marcelino C. Libanan and the rank and file personnel of the Bureau of Immigration for successfully thwarting a terrorist threat targeting the US Embassy and three other embassies earlier this year.

US Embassy Regional Affairs Counselor John “Chris” Wood cited the people behind the BI who “professionally and systematically supported efforts to prevent possible attacks on the US Embassy and other local and foreign domestic targets last February.”

It can be recalled that the BI deported Jordanian Moh’d Amro who allegedly plotted to blow up embassies in the Philippines. Amro was deported based on the testimony of fellow Jordanian Walid Abu Aisheh who alleged that the two of them, along with three other compatriots, conspired in the attempted bombing of the embassies of the U.S., Israel, United Kingdom, and Australia.

Police and army intelligence sources also reported that the Jordanians were also involved in plots to assassinate high-ranking government officials, including President Arroyo.

“We can’t thank BI enough for their support and cooperation in the counterterrorism investigation that threatened the security of the embassy,” said Wood. “The BI has consistently demonstrated its efficiency and dedication in preventing terrorism in the region.”

Libanan, who received the US Embassy’s plaque of appreciation, said that the BI remains one of the government agencies responsible in protecting us from such threats.

“Although our reforms at the BI have become more accommodating towards foreign investors, we will remain vigilant to make sure that no foreign visitors will pose danger to our national security,” he said. (BI News)

MANILA, Philippines - An agreement aimed at expediting the processing of visas and other immigration documents of Koreans has been signed.

The memorandum of agreement (MOA), according to Bureau of Immigration commissioner Marcelino Libanan, was signed by him and the Korean Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines Inc. (KCCPI) president Jae Jang on Wednesday.

The MOA formalized the groups' partnership and cooperation in servicing the immigration requirements of Koreans now doing business or are working in the Philippines.

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MANILA -- The Bureau of Immigration (BI) will allow traveling minors with Filipino lineage to enter the Philippines without an accompanying parent.

In a memorandum issued by BI Commissioner Marcelino Libanan, minors can enter the country even if they are not accompanied by their parents but by a grandparent, guardian or relative.

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MANILA, Philippines—Foreign athletes who wish to strut their wares on Philippine soil will now have to hurdle two agencies—the Games and Amusement Board and the Bureau of Immigration.

The BI will only issue a special work permit (SWP) to a foreign athlete if his application for such permit has been endorsed by the GAB, the agency that regulates and supervises all professional competitions in the country.

BI Commissioner Marcelino Libanan and GAB chair Eric Buhain signed on Tuesday the memorandum of agreement that will mean a tougher implementation of the SWP rule.

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