EDITORIAL – Deported

Can a foreigner being tried for kidnapping in this country be deported? That’s what kidnap victim Jackie Tiu wants to know. Zhang Du, alias Wilson Zhang, was one of seven Chinese nationals arrested for Tiu’s abduction on Sept. 27, 2001. Jackie was rescued eight days later, the ransom for her was recovered and the seven Chinese arrested in a hotel in Pasay City. Following up the progress of the kidnapping case recently, one of Tiu’s relatives learned that Zhang had been deported last May 7.

The kidnapping case is still pending with the regional trial court in Bauang, La Union. President Arroyo had flown to the court on Aug. 16, 2002 to provide moral support to Jackie and her family when the victim identified her kidnappers including Zhang.

Yesterday Jackie was again with the President, this time at Malacañang, seeking help on the flight of Zhang. She joined a courtesy call on the President by Alex Von Buehr, president of Coca-Cola Export Far East Ltd. and the family of slain kidnap victim Betty Sy, a former executive of Coca-Cola Philippines.

In December 2002, the President had sacked an assistant prosecutor after the charges against Zhang and a co-accused were downgraded from principal to accessory to kidnapping. Ong remains at large. Zhang, meanwhile, was classified as an undocumented alien during the trial and transferred by the police to the detention center of the Bureau of Immigration in Bicutan. Last May, he was reportedly escorted out of the country by BI agents.

It’s not the first time that immigration agents have allowed foreigners facing criminal charges here to leave the country. In one of the most notorious cases, 11 Indians facing drug charges mysteriously skipped town several years ago. There have been other cases, a number of them involving capital offenses. Four years after her abduction, Jackie Tiu continues to live in fear as she waits for justice. She may never see that happen in the case of Zhang.