Asi departs to retrace Pinoy roots

Asi Taulava is leaving the country this morning via a Northwest Airlines flight to Los Angeles but the controversial Mobiline player has vowed to return to continue his fight for what he claims his "rights as a Filipino."

Taulava said he's visiting his sisters in Los Angeles and will proceed to Tonga to visit his parents and at the same time look for new pieces of evidence that could help prove his claim to Filipino citizenship.

The Tongan cager, who was ordered deported by the Bureau of Immigration last month for failure to prove his Philippine citizenship, said he had a meeting with BI commissioner Rufus Rodriguez, who promised him to re-open the case once the cager finds new pieces of evidence that would bolster his claim to a Filipino lineage.

He maintained his mother is a native of Samar and was holding a Philippine passport at the time of his birth and said he's 100 percent sure he will eventually solve his immigration problem.

"I know I'm gonna be back and I'm gonna surprise all of you. In fact, I'm considering my trip more as a vacation. I'm leaving my things here because I'm gonna be back," said Taulava.

Taulava said his mother doesn't know yet the BI ruling and the player said he intends to keep it to himself "because I don't want my mother to get hurt."

"I consider this the prize of fame. But I'm kind of hurt in some ways because I'm denied of the citizenship of my mother," said Taulava.