Immigration revamps warden facility personnel after six phones seized from Japanese detainee
MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Immigration has revamped its personnel at its Warden Facility in Taguig City after authorities seized six cellphones from a Japanese national detainee, one of the suspected masterminds in a robbery ring operating in Japan.
In an interview with DZBB on Friday morning, BI spokesperson Dana Sandoval said new personnel are now managing the BI Warden Facility.
“The responsibility lies on the head of the warden facility… because [if it’s] massive, then definitely there is something going on so we replaced the head and all the people inside the facility,” she said partly in Filipino.
This was after Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla, earlier this wek, said authorities confiscated cellphones from foreign nationals detained at the BI facility.
"This is the subject of investigation within BI because these cannot be tolerated, this reeks of corruption," Remulla said, adding it is "very possible" that criminal activities were run from the detention centers through the contraband phones.
The alleged leader of the robbery group who is reportedly being held at the BI detention facility is identified with the alias of “Luffy,” although Philippine government has yet to name him. The Japanese government however has requested the deportation of four Japanese nationals.
Sandoval said CCTV has since been put in place and Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco will also study improvements needed in the facility. She added this is “something to be prioritized” since it has already become a “cause of concern.”
Case dismissed vs one Japanese detainee
Meanwhile, the Taguig Metropolitan Trial Court Branch 116 said it has dismissed a light threat case against Japanese national Fujita Toshiya, who was identified by Japanese media Kyodo News as one of four cited by the Japanese government for deportation.
Foreign nationals cannot be deported if they have pending cases or sentences in the Philippines.
Speaking to reporters also on Friday morning, lawyer Merly Pagkalinawan — clerk of court — confirmed that they received a motion to withdraw information from the Office of the Prosecution last January 31.
“To the resolution of the court, it is withdrawn… it is dated, the resolution dated February 1, 2023,” Pagkalinawan added.
She explained that the case stemmed from a complaint filed by a certain lawyer but when the court set the case for hearing on Nov. 22, 2021, “none of the parties appeared,” even their counsels.
Another setting was set on March 2, 2022 but the accused still failed to appear in court, prompting them to issue a warrant of arrest. Due to this, the prosecution had to file a motion to withdraw information (charge sheet), and the arrest warrant was set aside.
Pagkalinawan however pointed out that the “court made an independent study, a revisit of the probable cause, and finds that there is none.”
Remulla has earlier said they are working to dismiss all the pending cases — which may be contrived, he added — against the four Japanese nationals, so they can deport them to their home country. — Kristine Joy Patag
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