if Marcos appoints her DOJ investigating scheme to delay deportation of foreign detainees

by Kristine Joy Patag Philstar.com

MANILA — The Bureau of Immigration is again under the magnifying glass, this time for a supposed scheme to prevent foreigners from being deported to their homeland.

This has apparently kept a detained Japanese national believed to be behind a spate of robberies in Japan on Philippine soil.

Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla, in a streamed press conference Tuesday, January 31, said that the Japanese Embassy has asked the department to deport four Japanese fugitives detained at the Bureau of Immigration.

While the Philippine government promises to hasten the deportation proceedings of the Japanese fugitives — one of whom is believed to be “Luffy”, the leader of a robbery group operating in Japan — Remulla explained that they cannot deport foreigners with pending cases or investigations in the country.

Three of the four detainees mentioned by the Japanese Embassy have pending cases — some are at prosecutor level while some are already in courts in different parts of the country.

“Most of the cases — if not all — involve Violence against Women and Children, but we are of the impression that these cases were invented or not real cases, [these are] contrived cases filed against them just to keep them in the

Philippines,” he continued.

“There are lawyers who specialize in these cases and many of them will lose their license if they continue doing this. We will file cases — even against the lawyers if they will insist on filing cases which are contrived — but that is the way it works.”

Remulla said they learned about this scheme when they deported two Chinese nationals last week. The fugitives also had cases, but these were later dismissed after authorities looked into them.

“It’s a part of the corruption ring that operates within the Bureau of Immigration. All these legal services offered by law offices do not stop at tactics which are not supposed to be used in cases like this,”

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by red Mendoza ManilaTimes.net

HEALTH Officer-inCharge Maria Rosario Vergeire said that she is “ready” if President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. decides to appoint her as full-time secretary of health.

Asked during a television interview on Tuesday, January 31 whether she wanted to be health secretary, Vergeire said that based on the six months she has helmed the department, she was ready because Filipinos might need her.

In a later media briefing, Vergeire clarified that she will only accept the offer of Health secretary if Marcos has decided to appoint her full-time.

“Hindi niya kailangan akong lapitan para maging

Secretary of Health ako, ako po ang magsasabi at makikipagusap sa kanya

(The president does not need to approach me to be the health secretary, I will be the one to discuss it to him if he decides on it),” Vergeire said.

What changed her mind, according to Vergeire, was her visits to different communities in the past six months of her tenure as officer-in-charge, talking to different communities and experiencing first-hand the coronavirus situation in the country.

“Sa tingin ko ngayon, with all of these things happening and sa trabaho na we need to improve the healthcare system, sa tingin ko it is the appropriate time for me to help the country (I think with all the things that are happening and the work that we should be doing to improve the healthcare system of the country, I think this is the appropriate time for me to help the country),” Vergeire said. g