Philippines’ MANILA According to the Department of Justice (DOJ), some foreigners are filing lawsuits against themselves to evade or postpone deportation in an effort to carry on with their unlawful operations in the Philippines. This strategy is known as “demanda me.”
During yesterday’s Senate hearing on the DOJ’s proposed budget for 2024, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said, “We found that half of the detained foreigners filed cases against themselves so they could not be deported.”
“There was a Japanese man who brought 12 charges against himself to get citizenship. Every case was examined, and every one was rejected,” he continued.
Remulla was referring to the approximately 400 foreign nationals detained at the Camp Bagong Diwa Bureau of Immigration facility in Taguig.
Due to the fact that their cases are still ongoing in court, half of them, who are Chinese, have been waiting to be deported for five years.
Remulla clarified that foreign nationals could not be expelled until their legal matters were settled and said that the “demanda me” system postponed the expulsion of undesired foreign nationals and foreign nationals engaged in criminal activity.
“It would be better if there were a law that could waive the cases so they can be deported immediately,” he remarked.
Remulla thinks that attorneys who helped file “demanda me” cases ought to face consequences.
