By Robina Asido

The Philippine government is trying to identify a certain "Luffy" who is allegedly the mastermind of robbery incidents in Japan since last year.

"Yes, we’re trying to do that. But I cannot discuss that anymore," Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla told reporters when asked if they are trying to identify ''Luffy'' during the press conference in Manila on Friday.

Remulla said the Philippines has not yet received any coordination from the Japanese government regarding ''Luffy'', who is allegedly in the Bureau of Immigration (BI) detention center.

"I will have to discuss with the Japanese embassy on this matter. We haven’t been in contact yet when the issue started coming over to my office. They haven’t contacted me yet. And I think It’s not proper for me to discuss it yet until the embassy comes in with any special data that I may need, information I may need about the person that they seek," he said.

In a message to the Daily Manila Shimbun on Thursday night, BI spokesperson Dana Krizia Sandoval said the Japanese government has not yet coordinated with them about ''Luffy''.

"No coordination on this matter yet," she said.

Remulla said the Philippine government will act once the Japanese government makes a request regarding the matter.

"Actually, the situation here is that Japan is the requesting party. When a case like this happens, we are waiting for that request to push through first," he said.

"Our Bureau of Immigration is holding many aliens right now who are liable for many crimes that they have committed here in the Philippines and sometimes even abroad. And we act on the request of foreign governments," he added. DMS