Japanese says he's an NBI agent

A Japanese national was held yesterday by immigration authorities at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport for misrepresenting himself as a special agent of the National Bureau of Investigation.

Immigration intelligence officer Reynald Bustillo said that Michihiko Yamaguchi, 43, flashed appointment papers naming him an NBI confidential agent when immigration officers informed him that he could not leave the country because there was a complaint against him of non-payment of salaries.

The Japanese, who gave his address as 45 Yale St., Cubao, Quezon City, was scheduled to leave for Japan on board a Japan Airlines flight when informed that he could not leave because of the complaint filed by his three Filipino employees.

Rosalie Benedicto, Nieves Parungao and Joanna Perucho complained upon their arrival in Manila that Yamaguchi had failed to pay their salaries as employees of the Japanese in his entertainment club in Japan. They asked that the Japanese be prevented from leaving the country.

Bustillo said that when Yamaguchi was informed that there was a complaint against him, he flashed his NBI appointment on NBI stationery, purportedly signed by the late NBI Director Federico Opinion, requiring Yamaguchi to undertake missions upon direct instructions from NBI officials.

Yamaguchi said that he could not be prevented from leaving the country as he was a confidential agent of the NBI on a "special mission for the NBI." – Rey Arquiza