The Department of Justice (DOJ) will seek the dismissal of the charges filed before the courts against four fugitive Japanese nationals whose deportation is being pushed by the Japanese government.
“We have to file the necessary motions through our prosecution service and it’s up to the judges whether they will dismiss the cases or not,” DOJ Assistant Secretary and Spokesperson Jose Dominic F. Clavano IV said on Wednesday, Feb. 1.
Clavano declined to give the names of the four Japanese nationals. “We have to help the Japanese Embassy and the Japanese government preserve the integrity of their investigation and that is one of the few requests that they gave us,” he said.
The four Japanese nationals are with their 13 other compatriots who are in the custody of the Bureau of Immigration (BI).
Japanese Embassy representatives met with DOJ Secretary Jesus Crispin C. Remulla to follow up the deportation request for the four Japanese who are alleged members of a notorious robbery syndicate operating in Japan including their supposed leader who is known as “Luffy.”
“These four are subjects of deportation requests from way back in 2019.” Clavano said. “They also have arrest warrants since then,” he also said.
Remulla had said that “there is a rule that we cannot deport anybody with a pending criminal case in the Philippines.”
He had said that based on information, one of the four has been charged in court with estafa but was already dismissed, while, the three others have pending cases for violations of Republic Act No. 9262, the Violence Against Women and Children (VAWC) Act.
He suspected that the cases involving RA 9262 have been contrived with the help of their lawyers to prevent them from being deported.
Clavano said that one of the cases has a hearing set for Thursday, Feb. 2. “We are hoping that the judge will dismiss it as soon as possible,” he said.
TAGS: #DOJ #Japanese Embassy #Japanese nationals #BI