30,000 overstaying foreigners warned

Immigration Commissioner Andrea Domingo gave some 30,000 overstaying Chinese and other foreigners until Wednesday to voluntarily leave the country, otherwise they would be under pain of being deported and lose the privilege of ever returning again to the Philippines.

Domingo also asked the three big Chinese associations in the country to convince the overstaying aliens to update their expired tourist visas and pay the immigration fees and fines to the bureau before they will be allowed to leave the country.

"I have issued instructions to immigration personnel not to arrest any overstaying alien if he comes to the bureau to update his expired visa." Domingo said, adding that her orders were only good until the end of the month.

The immigration chief issued the ultimatum as she alerted the task forces of immigration intelligence agents to fan out in Metro-Manila and the provinces to round up the overstaying Chinese nationals starting August 1.

"After July 31, there will be no mercy on all overstaying Chinese nationals, including all other nationalities as they will be arrested and summarily deported and banned from reentering the country in the future," Domingo stressed.

Domingo said that most of the aliens have entered the country on tourist visas before her time and since then have been overstaying. Many of them have been reportedly engaged in smuggling and in the retail business in direct violation of the Customs and retail trade laws.

Included in the scheduled round-up of illegal aliens were foreigners, mostly Chinese nationals on tourist visas, who are engaged in vending activities and competing with Filipino vendors in Baclaran, Quiapo and Tutuban. Some of them dispose of their goods in the hotels where they stay. – Rey Arquiza