Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas F. Ople said that the Department provided all appropriate assistance to eighty-two (82) Filipino deportees from the United States of America who arrived today.  The Secretary said that the deportees had requested that the Department help protect their privacy, a request that the Secretary said his Department would fully respect.

This fifth batch of Filipino deportees was onboard the flight chartered by the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service (USINS) under its Justice Airline Prisoners Transport System (JPATS) program. They arrived at the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport in San Fernando, Pampanga, at 10:46 today. The Filipino deportees were accompanied by twenty-four (24) agents of the USINS and ten (10) Cambodian deportees en route to their own country.

“Upon the request of the Filipinos deportees themselves, we have exerted every effort to ensure that their arrival be kept at a low public profile,” Secretary Ople said.

The Department of Foreign Affairs adheres to guidelines intended to preserve the dignity of Filipino deportees and protect the privacy of their respective families. These guidelines include unannounced deportee returns and private notification of each deportee’s next-of-kin.

Upon their arrival, the deportees were met by representatives of the Department of Foreign Affairs, Department of Justice, Department of Health, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Department of Labor and Employment, the Philippine Air Force, and the Clark Development Corporation. The government personnel processed their travel documents, administered medical check-ups, provided counselling, as well as gave food and provisions to every deportee. Free transportation to Manila was also provided.
 

After receiving the assistance and services of the government agencies who met them upon their arrival, several of the deportees expressed their appreciation for the efforts of the government to ensure their safe arrival as well as for the determination of the government to protect their privacy.

The Filipinos who returned to the Philippines under the JPATS program were mostly those overstaying in the United States with a minority convicted of different criminal offences.

“I am confident these newly-returned kababayans will re-establish themselves and find their rightful place in our society.  Our government will provide them every assistance possible,” the Secretary added.

From June 2002 through August 2003, the USINS’ JPATS has returned three hundred and fifty-three (353) Filipinos: Sixty-three (63) in June 2002; Eighty-four (84) in December 2002; fifty-three (53) in February 2003; seventy-one (71) in May of 2003; and, eighty-two (82) in August 2003.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and the Philippine Consulate-General in Los Angeles have contacted the next-of-kin of these deportees, and are acting upon further developments in the USINS’ JPATS program.

The Secretary strongly denied accusations that Filipinos are being singled out by the US in deporting aliens.  He also said that based on the representations of the Philippine government, deportation procedures have been modified to ensure that deportees are treated humanely and with dignity. END.