Philippines wants to deport four Japanese robbery suspects before Marcos visit to Japan
By Robina Asido
The Philippine government wants to deport four Japanese robbery suspects to Japan before President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s visit in February.
''Ideally, yes. Before the President's visit,'' said Justice Department spokesperson Mico Clavano in an ambush interview Tuesday as he replied to a question if Japan wants the four deported before Marcos' trip.
The four, according to sources, are Imamura Kiyoto, Yuki Watanabe, Tomonobu Kojima, and Toshiyaki Fujita.
They reportedly are involved in at least 14 robberies across several Japanese prefectures and the death of a 90-year-old woman in a suburb in Tokyo. They allegedly have been giving instructions to their members in Japan through smartphones while in detention at the Bureau of Immigration facility.
The phones have been confiscated, said Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla last Friday.
The mastermind, said to be a person named ''Luffy'' is allegedly one of the four detained Japanese.
"As much as possible ideally we would like to deport all of them at the same time. All four at the same time which is the request of the Japanese embassy. But we’ll see because time is of the essence here,'' said Clavano.
Clavano noted that before the visit of Marcos to Japan the DOJ wanted "to get something done."
"We are also trying to balance because the president is going there soon to Japan and we’d like to get something done because the timeline is not with us," he said.
"We promised to cooperate with the Japanese government. And any requests that they have we will process immediately. And they were very thankful actually for our swift actions yesterday. On the spot we were able to make several phone calls to the involved offices to get all the information that we could," Clavano added.Clavano said the officials of the Japanese Embassy presented the warrant of arrest for the four Japanese suspects when they met Remulla on Monday. He said the warrant of arrest against the four suspects are the basis for the deportation request of the Japanese government.
"The DOJ committed to cooperating with the Japanese government in deporting all four of them as soon as all cases are cleared," he said.
"This is the last time that we want actually for us to strain any relationship with the Japanese government because the president is going there to build a relationship even more and to invite investments here in the Philippines and we fully support that. We want him to do well and we want this to be a successful trip," he added.
Clavano said three out of the four Japanese suspects have pending cases while the other one suspect is just waiting for a clearance from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) before deportation.
"The cases are in court so it’s up to the court to dismiss and as to the timing of that dismissal I wouldn’t know. That’s only part of the judiciary’s independence. But if the cases are dismissed which I have no control over, then it will only take a matter of 10 days, 10 to 15 days from the dismissal to be able to deport them," he said.
He did not name who among the four is the Japanese suspect who is just waiting for his NBI clearance, but the DOJ previously announced that the Makati Regional Trial Court has ordered the dismissal of a criminal case against Imamura Kiyoto on January 25, 2023.
A DOJ briefer previously mentioned that the BI "will implement the summary deportation order as soon as" the needed clearances and travel document is secured.
Clavano said the Philippine authorities will also allow Japanese cops to meet the suspects, however, he also noted that the DOJ have not yet received any request on the matter.
"Well they can do that, we will be open to that. But we haven’t received any requests like that," he said. DMS
