Philippine Immigration

‘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)