Bureau of Immigration to deport Dutchman for abusing Pinay lover

MANILA, Philippines - The Bureau of Immigration has arrested a Dutch national and will soon deport him for allegedly repeatedly beating up and maltreating his Filipina live-in partner of three years.

In a statement, BI Commissioner Marcelino Libanan said Edzart Pieter Jan Zwaal was arrested March 24 at his house in Sta. Maria, Bulacan and is currently detained at the BI’s detention facility in Bicutan, Taguig City, while waiting for his deportation papers. 

Zwaal’s partner said she met Zwaal in the Netherlands, where she worked as a domestic helper for 14 years, and that they had been living together since March 2006, when she quit her overseas job and returned to the Philippines.

She said Zwaal allegedly brought prostitutes to their house and once kicked her son, from a previous marriage, out of their house so he could use the boy’s bed to have sex with a call girl.

Zwaal’s partner said he is an alcoholic who would beat her whenever he was drunk. He also banned her relatives from visiting them, according to the victim.

In September 2007, she said she sought the assistance of the Sta. Rosa, Laguna police and filed a complaint against Zwaal for punching her, dragging her out of their house and threatening to kill her.

She said when she realized Zwaal would not change, she sought the help of her provincemate, BI Associate Commissioner Roy Almoro.

BI spokesman Floro Balato Jr. said Zwaal entered the country on two occasions and was listed as a balikbayan although he was not legally married to a Filipina. He was also found to have been an overstaying alien. – Evelyn Macairan