Philippine Immigration

MANILA, Philippines -- The Bureau of Immigration (BI) has arrested a German wanted in his country for massive computer fraud that victimized thousands of investors.

BI commissioner Marcelino Libanan said Peter Uwe Muller was arrested Friday by personnel of the bureau’s law enforcement division in his home at Sandico Street, Diamond Subdivision, Barangay Balibago, Angeles City, Pampanga.

He is detained at the Bicutan immigration jail.

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MANILA, Philippines -- Bureau of Immigration (BI) commissioner Marcelino Libanan relieved on Thursday an officer of the agency at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 (NAIA-3) for her alleged involvement in Wednesday’s foiled departure of 17 undocumented contract workers to the Middle East.

Libanan issued an order recalling immigration officer Mindaya Ombawa to the BI main office in Intramuros pending investigation of her alleged involvement in facilitating the attempted departure of the workers, all said to be minors bound for Jordan and Syria.

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MANILA, Philippines - Government agents intercepted at least 15 "tourist workers" caught with spurious passports at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 early Wednesday morning.

Radio dzBB's Denver Trinidad reported that the workers included several minors, and had passports that were allegedly tampered or "manufactured."

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MANILA, Philippines -- The Bureau of Immigration has deported a foreigner arrested for alleged swindling in Davao City two years ago, Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan said.

Masahiro Tashima, 47, and identified as a Japanese national was deported after a two-year-old case against him before the Lapu-Lapu City regional trial court was dismissed, Libanan said.

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MANILA, Philippines—The Bureau of Immigration has set up what it calls its “last line of defense” against the trafficking of overseas Filipino workers.

Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan, in a statement, said the bureau’s agents stationed at airports and sea ports, who have little or no evidence to detain suspected “tourist-workers,” would instead brief them on the hazards faced by undocumented workers in foreign countries.

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Two Malaysians arrested at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) three months ago have been deported for involvement in human trafficking, the Bureau of Immigration said Monday.

Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan said Balagobal Kannataasan, 26, and Harisan Amirtham, 34, were deported last September 11 aboard a Malaysian Airlines flight to Kuala Lumpur.

Libanan said the Malaysians were expelled pursuant to a summary deportation order that the BI board of commissioners issued against them last August 26.

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MANILA, Philippines - The Bureau of Immigration is nearing its revenue target for 2008, and is poised to register a new record high income, according to BI Commissioner Marcelino Libanan.

In a statement released on Saturday, Libanan said that from January to end of August the bureau had already collected P1.43 billion in immigration fees.

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The Bureau of Immigration (BI) has opened two new satellite offices outside Metro Manila, making its services more accessible to foreigners living in nearby provinces.

No less than BI Commissioner Marcelino Libanan led the inauguration of the new satellite offices in Taytay, Rizal and Sta. Rosa, Laguna, which could provide the same assistance and services offered by the agency’s main office in Intramuros, Manila.

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SATELLITE offices of the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Bureau of Immigration will be established in key cities nationwide to bring their services more accessible to those living outside Metro Manila.

In Executive Order 748, President Arroyo ordered the creation of regional offices of the department in Bacolod City, Butuan City, Puerto Princesa City, Baguio City, General Santos City, and Cotabato City which will process and issue passports and extend other consular services not just for Filipinos but also foreigners as well.

Regional consular offices will be headed by a ranking officer and will be manned by “home-based personnel and locally-hired employees,” the President said in the executive order.

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MANILA, Philippines – The Bureau of Immigration now has a satellite office in Taytay town in Rizal province as part of its decentralization program to make its offices accessible to foreigners outside of Metro Manila.

The office, which was inaugurated on Wednesday by Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan and Mayor George Ricardo Gacula, is at the old Taytay Town Hall at the corner of Rizal Avenue and Kadalagahan Street in Barangay Dolores.

"This office is an important milestone in our bureau's history as foreigners living in the province of Rizal need no longer to travel to Manila to have their documents processed," Libanan said.

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MANILA, Philippines - The Bureau of Immigration is set to deport a convicted British pedophile who is wanted in his country.

Immigration Commissioner Mercelino Libanan identified the suspect as Kriss McCord, who has been convicted by a British magistrate for three counts of rape and four counts of indecent assault nine years ago.

The Immigration commissioner said the suspect will be expelled back to his country pursuant to a summary deportation order the Board of Commissioners issued against him last February.

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Fifteen foreigners had been deported last August as part of the government’s move to decongest the Immigration detention cell in Bicutan, Taguig City.

Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan said among those deported were the nine Vietnamese fishermen who were arrested last year for poaching on Philippine waters.

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The Bureau of Immigration (BI) has beefed up the members of its task force assigned to process the thousands of Filipinos who are being deported from Sabah to Mindanao as an offshoot of Malaysia’s ongoing crackdown against undocumented aliens.

BI Commissioner Marcelino C. Libanan assigned three more immigration officers to the task force upon recommendation of task force head Jose Carandang, who reported that there are still an estimated 10,000 Filipinos currently awaiting deportation in Sabah. The task force, which now has seven members, was formed by Libanan a month ago at the request of Mayor Celso Lobregat of Zamboanga City where the ship carrying the deportees used to arrive.

It was learned that Carandang sought the fielding of more personnel to the task force after the ship MV Danica Joy that previously transports the deportess from Sabah to Zamboanga suspended its operation.

Unlike the MV Danica Joy, the fast craft Weesam Expresss that currently picks the deportees stops first at the port in Bongao, Tawi-Tawi and then in Jolo, Sulu before going to Zamboanga.

Thus, the deportees are now processed by the task force at the Bongao port, the ship’s first destination after leaving Sabah.

Carandang said an average of 400 to 500 Filipinos are being deported from Sabah every week as the ship, which sails twice a week, can carry only a maximum of about 240 passengers.

He disclosed that a little over a thousand deportees were processed by the task force since it was created a month ago.

Carandang said the task force is still months away from completing its job as there are still more than 10,000 undocumented Filipinos presently detained in Sabah as a result of their arrest by Malaysian immigration authorities.

Most of the deportees, he said, had worked as domestic helpers, factory workers or market vendors in Malaysia without the proper documents. (BI News)

MANILA, Philippines – Three Indians have been detained pending summary deportation for molesting a 31-year-old woman in Quezon City last week and for carrying fake immigration papers, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said on Monday.

Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan named the three Indians as Kulvinder Singh, 30; Hardawinder Singh, 26; and Amarjir Singh 21.

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MANILA, Philippines -- The Bureau of Immigration (BI) arrested three Indian nationals accused of molesting a 31-year old Filipina.

Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan said Kulvinder Singh, 30, Hardawinder Singh, 26, and Amarjir Singh, 21, are undergoing deportation proceedings for being undesirable aliens and using spurious immigration documents.

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