Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 17) — Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said his department has agreed with the police to put a thousand foreigners “rescued” during a Las Piñas raid under the custody of the Bureau of Immigration (BI).
“Although they’ll be kept in the Las Pinas quarters in the POGO where they were raided because we do not have the facilities in the BI to keep them,” Remulla said Monday.
He added the BI was requested to blacklist foreigners as they were involved in an illegal activity.
On the foreigners’ continuing detention, Remulla said violations of their terms of stay are enough to hold them indefinitely under BI custody.
“It’s legal custody because they are under investigation for violation of their visas or the conditions of their visas because the presumption is if they have working visas then they are here legally to work in a lawful activity,” Remulla said.
Authorities ‘rescued’ over 2,000 workers, including foreigners late in June from alleged human traffickers in a POGO compound.
READ: Over 2K workers rescued in POGO hub raid in Las Piñas
Remulla earlier said they could not file a case as the police failed in its case buildup.
READ: DOJ chief: PNP’s POGO trafficking raid lacks evidence
