NEWSFLASH

84 FILIPINOS DEPORTED FROM U.S. ARRIVE AT CLARK

CLARK FIELD, PAMPANGA, December 14, 2002 (STAR).  By Ding Cervantes and Aurea Calica - Eighty-four Filipinos, most of whom had their hands or feet or both "restrained," arrived here yesterday on board a chartered passenger plane after being deported by the US government for being "undocumented aliens."

At least 59 of the deportees were restrained with "flexicuffs" — which are more comfortable than metal handcuffs — for the duration of their flight on board a Boeing 737 Miami International aircraft that took off from San Diego, California. The plane stopped over in Honolulu and from Wake Island before landing here.

The deportees’ restraints were removed a few hours before the aircraft entered Philippine territory, said Elmer Cato, director of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) consular office in Central Luzon.

The 84 deportees comprise the second batch of Filipinos to be transported here on board a plane chartered by the US Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) since June this year. Unlike the first batch, there were no children on board the flight and only five were women.

The fettered deportees, whom Cato referred to as "returnees," had criminal records ranging from drug dealing, child molestation, embezzlement, felony, and sexual offenses. The deportees who were not restrained were simply charged with overstaying in the US.

Representatives of government agencies such as the health and social welfare departments, and the Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration, met the deportees at the airport to provide for their immediate needs.

Cato added that their deportation had nothing to do with the anti-terrorism drive of the US government.

"Compared with the first batch of 63 Filipinos who were deported from the US last June, this batch received better treatment as a result of negotiations between the Philippine embassy and the INS," Cato said.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas Ople, in a statement, said that to ensure the deportees were treated properly and "in a manner consistent with the dignity of each individual," five personnel from the Presidential Commission on the Visiting Forces Agreement, led by vice consul Ferdinand Victoria, accompanied the deportees on their trip home.

"Minimal restraints, which were to be removed an hour before landing, and in compliance with (US) civil aviation security regulations, were used on the deportees. The Philippine government had earlier lodged strong objections over the use of what is considered unreasonable restraints," Ople said in a statement.

The flexicuffs were considered by DFA officials as an improvement over the metal handcuffs and shackles used on the first batch of 63 Filipino deportees.

Ople added Filipinos were not being singled out by the US government for deportation. He cited INS figures showing that out of 15 nationalities included in the list of deportees, the Philippines ranked 13th.

"These Filipinos were not rounded up in US. Their status as undocumented aliens were discovered only after they were involved in crimes. The illegal alien status of some of them were found out after they were caught for traffic violation," Cato said.

He added that the US government has shifted to chartered planes to deport illegal aliens to save on cost.

"Deporting illegal aliens individually would cost about $10,000 each or $840,000 for this new batch of 84 returnees," Cato said.

He also noted that those deportees with criminal records had served their jail terms in the US before being deported. One of them is a woman who had served 16 years in jail. She was granted parole, shortening her 25-year jail term in the US.

Journalists were barred from Clark airport because the deportees’ relatives requested that their identities be kept secret, Cato said.

"(The DFA) had not made any prior announcement as to the specific date of their arrival upon the request of the deportees themselves for us to do everything to protect their right to privacy. It is a request that we are more than glad to honor," Ople said.

About 30 relatives and friends arrived here early yesterday morning to welcome and fetch the deportees. Half of the deportees, however, apparently had not notified any of their relatives in the country and were merely provided with transportation to the homes of their relatives.

"A number of the deportees said they were very much looking forward to being reunited with their families for Christmas," Ople said.

Some of the deportees come from as far as Cotabato in the south and Ilocos in the north.

Reported by: Sol Jose Vanzi