Stern warnings to undesirable aliens in the Philippines

There are many good foreigners in the Philippines and a good number of them are my clients, friends and colleagues in church, civic clubs and social groups. They are very talented, decent and well-behaved. They live dignified lives and I am very happy that they chose the Philippines as their permanent residence and retirement haven. There are Americans, Europeans, Japanese, Koreans, Indians and Arabs who are married to Filipino nationals. And I do admire their demeanor and manners.

But on the other hand, there are also many aliens, who should be jailed and then deported as well. These last few weeks, many of us in the whole nation, have seen a series of abuses committed by palpably undesirable aliens. While our country is globally well-known as a very hospitable host to hundreds of thousands of both resident and non-resident aliens, we would never tolerate people from other corners of the world to insult our people, violate our laws and behave in manners that clearly show

Many Filipinos who are working abroad have been arrested, prosecuted and thrown to prisons for a number of offenses, most of which consist of violations of immigration and labor laws. Our government respects the powers of the host countries and their respective governments to enforce their own laws, provided that our citizens are afforded due process of law, and their guilt has been proven beyond reasonable doubt.

In the same manner, our government has the inherent power to arrest undesirable aliens, like that Russian blogger who committed serious crimes against persons and properties, that German who was arrested in Pampanga and a Korean also apprehended for other kinds of felonies. We have arrested a number of Chinese without valid work permits and sans working visas who operated illegal gambling. We still remember that US serviceman who was convicted of murder of an LGBTQIA in Subic.

Being married to a Filipino citizen does not provide an alien a blanket authority to violate our laws because even our citizens are not excused for malfeasance, misfeasance and nonfeasance. If they commit crimes, the force of the law should be fully thrown at them. They should not be treated as sacred cows or untouchable VIPs. They better respect our laws and do not insult our citizens and officials.

Among others, the following are legal grounds to deport undesirable aliens under the Philippine immigration act: Violation of immigration laws on legal entry, lawful stay, limits, durations and requirements for exit. Possession of invalid or expired visas authorizes our immigration authorities to throw the books on them. Being involved in a criminal activity like operating illegal recruitment and trafficking syndicates, drug laboratories, prostitution dens and on-line scams.

There are aliens who are engaged in espionage and hacking websites of our government agencies and they pose a grave and imminent danger to our national security. There are foreign nationals who are infected with HIV Aids and are openly maintaining a relationship with our citizens, thereby exposing our communities to the hazards of proliferation of public health menaces. They should be properly identified, treated and isolated to protect the general public.

Foreign nationals should also refrain from actively participating in partisan political exercises like election-related issues and characters. They have no right to assist, participate or give financial aid to political rallies, demonstrations against the government and its instrumentalities and should not campaign for or against any electoral candidate. They should not commit any crime against national security, much less give aid and comfort to our enemies.

Aliens without any valid work permit under Article 40 of the Labor Code are strictly prohibited from engaging in any compensated labor, services or employment. They cannot even work as consultants nor be engaged on temporary, limited or intermittent work Any form of circumvention shall be dealt with very stringently. And if they are holders of an employment permit, they can no longer use it if they transfer to another employer. Much less can they transfer such permits to another alien.

I thus warn all aliens who currently enjoy the hospitality of our government and people. Never attempt to violate our laws, much less insult our government and our citizens. A good visitor should be respectful, dignified and decent in words and actions. We are a very welcoming people but we are likewise stern and unforgiving when we see abuses and gross disrespect.

In a light manner, I wish to remind all foreigners that the first tourist who came to our beautiful islands and committed the grave "faux pas" of insulting our people in 1521 was forthwith killed on the shores of Mactan.