SIX Chinese illegal POGO workers were deported to Wuhan, China, on board Philippine Airlines flight PR 316 on Wednesday, even as Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla personally went to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) to see them off.
The six aliens were only the first batch of POGO workers up for deportation, after the Bureau of Immigration canceled the visas of 1,424 Chinese nationals working in illegal POGO outlets.
BI chief Norman Tansingco said 400 more”Chinese POGO workers who are now in the BI custody will also be deported soon.
The DOJ earlier announced that the there is an estimated total of 48,782 employees who have to be sent back to China.
“It was determined by the Bureau of Immigration, through Commissioner Norman Tansingco, that a more cost-efficient and humanitarian approach would be to cancel the visas of the said Chinese nationals. Instead of deporting them, the cancellation of alien visas would simply allow the Chinese nationals to voluntarily exit the country within a non-extendible period of 59 days,” Remulla said.
Those who refuse to voluntarily leave the country after 59 days will have to be face summary deportation, the Justice Secretary added. (JERRY S. TAN)
