CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – Some 1,318 Chinese nationals who were arrested during a raid at the Fontana Leisure Parks in Clark Freeport Thursday last week will all be charged for violation of their visas, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) disclosed Wednesday.
The BI, with a directive from the Department of Justice, swooped down on call center-like facilities in Fontana, based on information that there were huge numbers of Chinese nationals allegedly working there illegally.
BI spokesperson lawyer Antonette B. Mangrobang stressed that the final number of the arrested Chinese nationals is 1,318 after the arrests of those who initially escaped from the raid were tallied, contrary to a report of Mabalacat City police headed by Supt. Juritz Rara, who claimed in media reports that “only 912 Chinese were rounded up and that all of them showed documents proving their legal stay in the Philippines.”
Mangrobang said that only 99 of the 1,318 rounded have so far been put on inquest last Tuesday due to the big number of those arrested in the raid.
“The validation of the immigration status is taking time because of the sheer number. The BI is still verifying and validating the immigration status of the others,” she said.
The BI, Mangrobang furthered, will file charges against the Chinese nationals for violation of their visas and engaging in online gaming, adding that the overstaying Chinese will be deported while summary deportation proceedings will be made for those engaged in online gaming.
Meanwhile, the BI clarified that not one of the 1,318 Chinese nationals arrested has been released as they are still undergoing investigation by the bureau’s legal division.
The BI added that it was the biggest single arrest of suspected illegal aliens that they have made so far in the country. (Sunnex)