Saturday, July 16, 2005
Wrongly deported Pinoy-Australian woman wants more compensation (3:25 p.m.)
SYDNEY, Australia -- A Philippine-born Australian woman who was wrongly deported to Manila after being mistaken for an illegal immigrant on Saturday said the prime minister's apology was "nice," but his offer of a six-month compensation package was still not enough.
Vivian Alvarez, who has held dual citizenship since 1986, was deported in July 2001 after she was mistakenly identified as an illegal immigrant, possibly a sex slave, following a serious car crash in which she was left with severe injuries and memory loss.
Alvarez was hospitalized for almost three months following the car accident. She was then held for a week in immigration detention before being deported.
Earlier this week, Prime Minister John Howard issued public apologies to Alvarez and German-born Australian resident Cornelia Rau, who was held for 10 months in a high-security detention center on suspicion of being an illegal immigrant.
Australia has offered Alvarez a lump-sum resettlement payment, plus six months each of free medical and health care, free accommodation and financial support for a family member in Australia.
But in a statement released Saturday by her lawyer, George Newhouse, Alvarez said the apology "sounds nice" but added she was concerned about what would happen after the compensation package ran out.
Howard's apology followed the release of a government report calling for an overhaul of the nation's immigration department in the wake of the Alvarez and Rau incidents.
Alvarez, 42, was tracked down by reporters to a hospice outside Manila in May after news of her illegal deportation became public.
Her children are in Australia but she remains in Manila while her lawyers negotiate terms of compensation with the Australian government.
Earlier this week, Newhouse said immigration officials knew that Alvarez had been wrongly deported three days after she was sent back to Manila, but chose to cover it up. Howard vehemently denied the cover-up claims. (AP) |
