RP asks Qatar to explain arrest of wrong Jason Aguilar

Manila is asking Qatar to clarify the arrest of Jason Aguilar, an overseas Filipino worker who was mistaken for a suspect in the fatal road shooting of a Malacañang official's son last November. Aguilar, a welder in Doha, was arrested on December 31 last year and incarcerated for seven days before being deported on Jan 7, as Qatari officials thought he was the same person as the slay suspect Jason Aguilar Ivler. Ivler was arrested Monday in the Quezon City home of his mother following a shootout with government agents. He became the subject of a global manhunt for the Nov. 18 killing of Renato Victor Ebarle Jr., the son of an undersecretary at the Office of the President. [See: Fugitive Jason Ivler captured after shootout with NBI team] The Department of Foreign Affairs on Saturday cited a report from the Philippine Embassy in Qatar that it sent a note verbale to the Qatari Foreign Ministry “to seek clarification on the circumstances surrounding the taking into custody and deportation of Filipino worker Jason Aguilar," the DFA said on its website Saturday night. While the Embassy awaits the response of Qatari authorities, Philippine Ambassador to Qatar Crescente Relacion in the meantime recommended that Aguilar secure a clearance from the National Bureau of Investigation of the Quezon City Police Department. Relacion said the clearance should indicate that Aguilar is not the same person as Ivler, as basis for the Embassy’s request for Aguilar’s name to be deleted from the immigration blacklist of Qatari and other Gulf Cooperation Council authorities, which share databases. This will also facilitate Aguilar’s reentry to his workplace in Qatar, should he wish to do so, he added. Aguilar earlier said he has no plans of working abroad anymore as he was “traumatized" by the ordeal he went through. [See: Gov’t blunder shatters dreams of OFW mistaken for a fugitive] As this developed, the Philippine Embassy noted the “swift action" taken by Qatari authorities in arresting an individual believed to be facing criminal charges in another jurisdiction. Despite the mistaken identity, “such kind of bilateral cooperation is useful in future cases," the embassy said. The Philippines is exploring a possible arrangement with Qatar on a "judicious and swift notification" of any arrest, detention, deportation and repatriation of their respective nationals in the other country, the embassy said. – Jerrie M. Abella/JV, GMANews.TV