Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 1) — The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Wednesday said it does not expect President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to discuss the deportation of Japanese nationals implicated in the “Luffy” robberies when he meets with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
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DFA Assistant Secretary Neal Imperial said the matter is already being handled by the Department of Justice (DOJ) as well as embassy officials, and is “totally unrelated” to Marcos’ official visit to Tokyo next week.
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“We don’t think it will affect in any way the visit of the president, and we do not expect it to be raised during his meeting with his counterpart,” he told reporters in a briefing.
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Following a request from the Japanese Embassy in Manila, the DOJ earlier committed to expedite the process of deportation of four Japanese nationals detained in the Philippines and believed to have operated a robbery ring in Japan.
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Among them is the presumed mastermind identified by Japanese news media as a certain Yuki Watanabe, who goes by the alias “Luffy.”
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Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla on Tuesday explained that cases against the suspects which remain pending in the Philippines must be cleared first before they are deported.
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He noted that three of the four still face charges in the country, mostly for violence against women and children.
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Remulla also said they hope to extradite all four before Marcos flies to Japan on Feb. 8 “so these will not be the focus of media.”
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Philippine authorities, meanwhile, are looking into the possibility that the Japanese nationals ran criminal enterprises while detained at the Bureau of Immigration after they were found to have illegally kept several mobile phones while there.
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