Dutch activist in SONA protest under immigration probe

MANILA, Philippines - The Bureau of Immigration (BI) is investigating foreigners who participated in the protests during the State of the Nation Address (SONA) last Monday.

The BI said they want to determine if the foreigners have committed acts that might be a ground for their deportation.

“We are verifying their identities and visa status and if there is basis to initiate deportation proceedings against them,” Immigration Officer-in-Charge Siegfred Mison said in a statement.

Mison explained that the non-Filipino demonstrators can be deported or ordered to leave the country if they commit acts that constitute “overthrowing the government, unlawful destruction of property and violation of the conditions of their stay.”

The foreigners will then be blacklisted and banned from re-entering the Philippines.

Mison said temporary visitor visa holders have no business joining protest rallies as it is tantamount to meddling in the country’s internal political affairs.

The agency has so far identified Dutch national Thomas Van Beersum, 30, who was photographed taunting a crying policeman.

Van Beersum came to the country as a delegate of the International Conference on Human Rights and Peace in the Philippines and attended the SONA protests last Monday.

He was seen in a viral photo screaming at PO1 Joselito Sevilla, who broke down to tears while trying to disperse the protesters.

Lawyer, Ma. Antonette Mangrobang, BI acting intelligence chief, said in a state news agency report that Beersum arrived in Manila as a tourist last June 13 and was admitted for an initial stay of 21 days.

She said Beersum was not supposed to join the rally because it meant violating the limitation and condition of his admission and stay as a temporary visitor and non-immigrant.

Beersum said he attended the SONA protest because he had been "outraged by the human rights violations committed by the corrupt Aquino regime."

Related story: Dutch urges SONA 'crying cop': Join protesters

"I am tired of the extrajudicial killings, the illegal arrests, the forced demolitions, the land-grabbings, the puppetry to US-imperialism, tired of all the oppression and exploitation of the workers, farmers, students, women, indigenous, urban poor, LGBTs, and all other oppressed groups," he said in his open letter posted on his Facebook page.

After the SONA protests, netizens created the Facebook page "Filipinos against Foreign Interference in Filipinas" to "provide a voice to Filipinos who have been marginalized by continued foreign interference in Filipinas political affairs."

The page shows photos of van Beersum with Sevilla and Professor Joma Sison, founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines.

A petition for deportation was also created on change.org for Van Beersum, seeking to declare the Dutch national as persona non-grata.

Related story: Hate page, deport petition vs Dutch activist in SONA