By JIGGER JERUSALEM
Correspondent .
THE two Chinese who are facing child abuse and trafficking in person charges would be blacklisted by the Bureau of Immigration (BI) as soon as they are indicted.
Felipe Alano Jr., BI Cagayan de Oro District’s alien control officer, said they are just waiting for the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to provide them a copy of the resolution that would be issued by the City Prosecutor’s Office on the complaint against the foreigners.
“Once they are indicted, we will blacklist them and declare them as undesirable aliens,” Alano said, referring to Chinese citizens Shen Zhi Qiang and Li Qi.
The BI would also implement deportation procedure if the suspects are convicted and will have served their jail terms, he said.
Alano said Shen arrived in the country on May 27, 2018 while Li on March 24, 2019.
Shen may have extended his tourist visa about several times since his arrival, said Alano, who only assumed office August last year.
In the wake of the controversy surrounding the presence of the Chinese people in the country, Alano said he has limited the visa extension of up only two months.
The Chinese were caught inside the rooms of Marco Hotel in Barangay Cugman with seven female minors and three women of legal age by a joint team of NBI agents and the city’s Regulatory and Complaint Board (RCB) officials in a March 31 raid.
Mayor Oscar Moreno said the City Social Welfare and Development Office must “keep its eyes and ears open all the time to ensure that our minors and other vulnerable sectors are protected.”
Moreno has also called owners of hotels and inns to “exercise diligence and caution” in accepting minors into their facilities.
“We cannot allow that this hotels and similar places will become instruments in violating the law,” he said.
The mayor is also amenable to the proposal of closing down businesses that allow individuals to commit illegal acts inside their establishments.
“If there is evidence that would warrant the closure, we will order the closure,” he said.
Alano said they are strictly monitoring the movement of foreigners, specifically the Chinese, staying in the city, many of them staying at Marco Hotel.
An average of 600 Chinese, either as workers or as tourists, stay in Cagayan de Oro in a month, he said.
The Special Work Permit (SWP) granted to the Chinese citizens who are employed here is good only for three to six months, he added.
Alano said they are also on the lookout for foreigners suspected of being terrorists who have arrived or are arriving in the region, per advice from the intelligence agencies.
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