BI detention facility crammed – Tansingco

THE Bureau of Immigration (BI) detention facility in Bicutan, Taguig, is overcrowded by more than 100 percent because of «phony» cases filed against foreign fugitives to prevent their deportation.

Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco on Monday disclosed that the BI holding facility, with a capacity of over 100 people, is now housing 276 foreigners. Of the total number, more than half have uncleared criminal cases on record, 53 percent of which are fugitives.

Tansingco said the foreign fugitives, through their lawyers and cohorts, were employing the so-called «demanda me (sue me) scheme» to avoid immediate deportation.

He explained that deportation of foreigners cannot be implemented if they have pending local cases; thus some aliens seek the services of corrupt lawyers to file frivolous cases against themselves to delay their deportation process.

«Obviously, the case is made up so as to delay his deportation,» said Tansingco.

During the public hearing of the Committee on Finance presided over by Sen. Juan Edgardo «Sonny» Angara last October 9, Secretary of Justice Jesus Crispin Remulla cited a case wherein a Japanese fugitive faced violence against women and children, a complaint filed by his wife, who continued to visit him on a daily basis.

To address the problem, Remulla has ordered state prosecutors to run after lawyers and courts who make a mockery of the country's justice system.

«This is really a modus of fugitives to escape arrest in their home countries,» said Tansingco. «With the DoJ running after lawyers and courts who perpetrate such schemes, I'm sure no one would dare use this scheme again.»