By NITZ ARANCON
Correspondent
THE Bureau of Immigration and Deportation (BID) has ruled to deport an Israeli living here for being “undesirable.”
Ordered deported was Reuven Baranovitch, a foreigner who has been the subject of complaints ranging from grave threats, trespass to dwelling, malicious mischief, unjust vexation, slight physical injuries, falsification, and perjury.
In a Nov. 26 resolution signed by Immigration Board Chairman Siegfred Mison and board member Gilberto Repizo, a copy of which was shown to this paper yesterday, the Bureau also ordered Baranovitch barred from the country for violation of Section 69 of Republic Act 2711.
Another BID board member, Abdullah Mangotara, inhibited and did not sign the resolution.
“We find respondent Baranovitch Reuven, Israeli national, an undesirable alien... and order his immediate arrest and deportation to Israel subject to the Issuance of clearances from courts and other government agencies,” reads part of the order.
The BID also ruled to cancel the foreigner’s i-card with the bureau’s Alien Registration Division, and to blacklist him.
The decision was a result of an investigation that was conducted because of a “letter of referral” sent by City Prosecutor Fidel Macauyag to the BID in Nov. 24 last year.
In his letter, Macauyag claimed that Baranovitch who has been into lending business was behind over 900 complaints, mostly estafa, filed against Filipino citizens, including prosecutors and judges.
“Even prosecutors and judges were not spared by his strange behavior,” said Macauyag.
He said the Israeli filed administrative complaints, allegedly meant to harass, against prosecutors whose rulings did not favor Baranovitch.
Mison and Repizo, in the BID decision, noted that the foreigner has been charged with grave threats, trespassing, malicious mischief, unjust vexation, slight physical injuries, falsification, and perjury.
“It must be remembered that every sovereign power has the inherent power to exclude aliens from its territory upon such grounds as it may deem proper for its self-preservation of public interest. The power to deport aliens is an act of state, an act done by or under the authority of the sovereign power. It is a police measure against undesirable aliens whose continued presence in the country is found to be injurious to the public good and the domestic tranquility of the people,” reads another portion of the decision.