Stop immigration harassment, Marcelo appeals to GMA

Embattled businessman Pacifico Marcelo appealed yesterday to President Arroyo to order a halt on the Bureau of Immigration’s alleged harassment and persecution of him.

Speaking through his lawyer Victor de la Serna, Marcelo warned that the abusive treatment he was getting would have serious repercussions on government’s efforts to attract foreign investments.

He pointed out that the President even indulged in a series of overseas trips to persuade foreign investors to come to the Philippines.

De la Serna scored Immigration Commissioner Andrea Domingo for allegedly trifling with his client’s constitutional rights and freedoms on the mere suspicion that he had committed an offense.

Domingo has reportedly issued a warrant of arrest for Marcelo following his failure to show up at the Immigration office to prove that he is a Filipino citizen.

"Mr. Marcelo is a Filipino citizen and we have the documents to prove it," the lawyer said without elaborating.

Justifying his client’s refusal to appear at Immigration, De la Serna charged that Domingo wanted to arrest Marcelo before giving him the opportunity to show proof of his Philippine citizenship.

"What assurance do we have that she will not take her own sweet time in deciding on the validity of our documents? In the meantime, my client will be detained under sub-human conditions," De la Serna said.

"Even assuming without admitting that Mr. Marcelo is an American citizen, what heinous crime has he committed that he is now being hunted down like a terrorist?" De la Serna argued.

He stressed that his client merely organized a corporation to serve as a pipeline for foreign investments.

Marcelo hogged the limelight late last year when he divulged during a Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing an alleged attempt by Mrs. Arroyo to strip him of majority control of the projected Philippine Communications Clearinghouse Inc. (PCCI).