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.

- Atty. Josephus B. Jimenez [e-mail]

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 laws, and their guilt has been proven beyond reasonable doubt.