CA upholds legality of deportation of Taiwanese to China

MANILA, Philippines - The Court of Appeals (CA) has upheld the legality of the deportation of Taiwanese fugitives to China last February.   

In a 15-page resolution, the former special 16th division of the appellate court also junked as moot the habeas corpus petition of six of the deported Taiwanese.                         

Through Associate Justice Francisco Acosta, the CA said the deportation of the fugitives to mainland China that angered Taiwan was aboveboard.

It stressed that it was based on the one-China policy which the court could not review.

“It need not be overemphasized that it was more prudent for the government to deport the petitioners to mainland China pursuant to the one-China policy, i.e., the Philippines recognizes Taiwan as a province of China,” the ruling stated.

“As a matter of fact, during the hearing on 16 March 2011, the counsel for the petitioners admitted that the adherence by the government to the one-China policy is a political question,” it added.

The court also ruled that the Bureau of Immigration’s failure to obey the writ of habeas corpus “was not willful and deliberate.”

After the fugitives were arrested, they were deported to China despite the habeas corpus obtained on their behalf by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines.  

“Besides, it must be stressed that the deportation was ordered and approved by the DOJ (Department of Justice) secretary who, under the doctrine of qualified agency, is an alter-ego of the President.”

The appellate court also dismissed the contempt charge against former Bureau of Immigration officer-in-charge Ronaldo Ledesma.

Concurring in the ruling were Associate Justices Vicente Veloso and Samuel Gaerlan.

The CA also stressed that the issue of arrest and detention of the Taiwanese fugitives was also moot and academic because of the deportation.

“Petitioners were already deported to mainland China before the matter was heard by this Court. Thus, in the light of the foregoing, the instant petition for habeas corpus is no longer available,” the ruling stated.

The court, however, said that while the search warrant and subsequent arrest of the Taiwanese were defective, the habeas corpus petition must be dismissed because there was a case filed against the accused which validated the arrest, detention and deportation.                                                             

“In the instant case, while it may be correctly argued that the search warrant and the petitioner’s subsequent arrest were defective, nonetheless, we do not find this as sufficient ground to grant the prayers sought for.

The records reveal that the petitioners were arrested, detained and correspondingly charged for violation of Section 37 (a) (7) of CA (Commonwealth Act) No. 613 (Philippine Immigration Act),” it said in the ruling.                                                        

The 24 Taiwanese fugitives were charged with fraud. They allegedly used automated teller machine cards and telecommunications services to transfer funds from China to the Philippines.

Several electronic devices were seized from them during the simultaneous raids in Makati and Muntinlupa on Dec. 27 last year.