BI to recapture, deport alien bail-jumpers

MANILA, Philippines – The Bureau of Immigration (BI) will create a special unit to monitor foreign nationals who were granted bail and recapture those who disappear after being granted provisional liberty, officials said yesterday.

“We should institute a system whereby aliens who are granted bail are monitored and the deportation proceedings against them are not suspended or delayed,” BI officer-in-charge Ronaldo Ledesma said in a statement.

BI intelligence chief Faizal Hussin, who proposed the creation of the special unit, said many former detainees in the Bicutan immigration jail jumped bail after being granted provisional liberty.

“They mistakenly thought that being out on bail gives them the license to freely roam the country whenever or wherever they want. It is about time that we throw the book at these recalcitrant foreigners,” he said.

Ledesma said the grant of bail is purely discretionary on the part of the immigration chief and foreigners given the privilege are duty-bound to comply with the bail conditions.

“Aliens who violate the conditions of their bail will be re-arrested and summarily deported to their country of origin,” he said.

Under current rules, foreigners granted bail are required to report to the BI intelligence division once every month and attend deportation hearings before the bureau’s Board of Special Inquiry and the Law and Investigation Division.