DOJ to issue rules on appeal of immigration decisions

The Department of Justice (DOJ) will soon enforce rules on appeals of decisions of the Bureau of Immigration (BI), including one that says foreigners ordered deported should leave the country even while they are on appeal.

The rules will govern appeals of BI decisions on deportation, exclusion, citizenship, the grant of visas, among others, Justice Undersecretary Markk Perete told reporters.

One such rule will have foreigners who were ordered deported to leave the Philippines if the BI decision is not reversed by the President or the Justice secretary within 30 days.

This will be in accordance with the Administrative Code, he said. If the deportation order is not set aside in 30 days, "automatic dapat and deportation, which means aalis talaga sila at babalik na lang after, if ever their petition is granted."

The current BI rule is that deportees on appeal may stay in the country, a policy "inconsistent" with the Administrative Code and has to be changed, the DOJ official said.

Perete said the DOJ and the BI now believe the provision of the Administrative Code is "better" because the government does not have a facility to hold all deportees.

He said "many of those who are to be deported would prefer to stay here in the Philippines rather than be deported," a situation that "boggles" him considering the overcrowding in the BI's facility in Bicutan.

The BI, an attached agency of the DOJ, was part of the technical working group that drafted the new rules starting last February. 

Having been approved by Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, the rules will be published on November 6 and take effect 15 days after, Perete said.

"We will abide and implement should there be new policies set by our mother department," BI spokesperson Dana Sandoval told GMA News Online. — Nicole-Anne C. Lagrimas/RSJ, GMA News