The Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) has called on the Bureau of Immigration (BI) over the alleged continued illegal detention of a 71-year-old Filipino-American since 2016.
PAO Chief Persida V. Rueda-Acosta said on Wednesday, Dec. 15, that Filipino-American Walter Manuel F. Prescott has been illegally detained since 2016 by the BI which wanted him deported.
Acosta said the BI has no reason to further detain Prescott for deportation since the PAO already checked with various courts and found he has no criminal cases in the Philippines.
Thus, she said, PAO has elevated the issue before the Court of Appeals (CA) for the grant of a writ of habeas corpus sought by Prescott.
“Sa mga justices natin nagmamakawa po kami sa inyo itama po ninyo ang mali (We appeal to the CA justices to right the wrong),” Acosta said during a press conference.
She said PAO had filed a reply to the comment submitted by the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) which opposed Prescott’s plea for release.
The case was elevated to the SC after the Manila regional trial court (RTC) denied Prescott’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus.
Acosta said Prescott was born in the Philippines. His mother is a Filipino while his father is an American, she said.
She also said that Prescott worked for the World Bank in the United States from 1983 to 2010 and also became a naturalized American in 2006.
Prescott eventually applied for reacquisition of Philippine citizenship in 2008 and was granted, she said.
But, she said, Prescott’s former wife filed a complaint accusing him of having illegally acquired his Philippine citizenship.
The BI, she said, used the complaint and the list of Prescott names facing charges to arrest him in 2016 for deportation.
After his arrest, Acosta said, “then Justice Secretary Leila M. De Lima unilaterally cancelled Prescott’s citizenship.”
“Bakit siya nagtanggal ng citizenship? Dapat po court ang magde-deklara na tanggalan ang isang Filipino ng citizenship (Why did De Lima do that? Only the courts can do the cancellation of Philippine citizenship),” she stressed.
Also, Acosta cited a Supreme Court (SC) decision which, she said, declared that persons facing deportation proceedings and have not been deported after three years should be released from detention.
“Ang napakasakit sa kasong ito. Filipino ang nanay niya, ipananganak sa lupang tinubuan na Pilipinas, nangyari Amerikano ang tatay, Bakit kailangan siya apihin ng ganito (This is a very sad case. He has a Filipino mother, he was born in the Philippines, but he has an American father. Why do we have to oppress him like this),” she lamented.
“Paano na yung mga Filipina na nagkakaanak sa isang banyaga? Ganito rin ang gagawin kung hindi natin ilalaban ang kaso ni Mr. Walter Prescott? (How about the other Filipino mothers with foreign husbands? Will this thing also happen if we do not fight for Mr. Walter Prescott),” she stressed.
The BI has yet to come out with its answer to Acosta’s statements.