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Japanese man arrested for working in the Philippines without a visa

Apparently when a single Japanese person is found to be illegally working in the Philippines, major news outlets consider it newsworthy:

An overstaying Japanese tourist is facing deportation after he was arrested for working in the country without a permit, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said Saturday.

Arrested last Wednesday was Masaaki Hashimoto, 40, an employee of Atlantic Globe Movers Inc. in Roxas Boulevard, Manila. He is presently detained at the Bicutan immigration jail.

BI Commissioner Marcelino Libanan said Hashimoto is undergoing deportation proceedings for overstaying and illegally working in the country. “He violated the conditions of his stay by not extending his tourist visa for more than three years and for engaging in gainful employment without the required work permit and visa,” Libanan said in a press release.

[...]

Libanan said illegally working foreigners prejudices the interest of Filipino workers who are equally qualified for the jobs performed by foreigners.

20 comments - What do you think? Posted by James - August 19, 2008 at 12:53 pm

Categories: General Japan Tags: immigration, japan

Level3

add that J dude getting busted for drugs a week ago in Thailand?

It’s just another sign of the Nihonjin Crime Wave!

Can’t wait for the reverse version of the “Secret Foreigner Crime File” detailing all the evil deeds of Japanese abroad.

Aceface

“Can’t wait for the reverse version of the “Secret Foreigner Crime File” detailing all the evil deeds of Japanese abroad.”

You mean “Waiwai”?

AA

Hahahaha! How funny is that.

Gainfully employed – so who’s system was broken then?

concerned Filipino

Tell that to the Americans who are pissed off at Mexicans who do honest work for low pay in their country.

http://alecinjapan.com Alec

Glad to hear it makes national news and shows that Japanese people overstay their visas too. Now they should do a story on all the Japanese people in London who do part-time jobs without the proper visa and their Japnese employers who give them below minimum wage.
concerned Filipino

National news? It quite clearly says “Metro” in the article.

http://www.japanprobe.com James

Thanks for pointing out the mistake – I’ve corrected it.

Random Filipino

It says “Metro” because it happened in the vicinity of the National Capital, that region being referred to usually as Metro Manila.

Nationally circulated Philippine broadsheets usually divide their newspapers’ sections into Nation, Opinion, Metro (for things that happen in the capital), Regions (any place not in Metro Manila), World, Business, Entertainment, etc.

So, that said, even if it’s labeled “metro” it could still have made the broadsheets or the the evening news, not just the net edition. Or not.

concerned Filipino

The point is, they didn’t treat it as a matter of national news. Networks like ABS-CBN and broadsheets like the PDI cover even things like mayors gunned down in obscure villages in the rural Philippines. I wouldn’t call that “national news”.

chua

the filipinos tend to make small foreigner mistakes really big. If the US would do the same thing then the newspaper would have been filled up with these

http://www.nihonzaru.com monkitaro

As far as I can tell from reading James’ post and the original article, a Japanese man was caught illegally working in the country and is facing deportation. The authorities give an explanation why he is in detention. So where did you get the idea that they were making a big fuss out of nothing?

“If the US would do the same thing then the newspaper would have been filled up with these.” I’m sorry, but what is the logic behind this statement?

Sanzoku

Ironic. One illegal Japanese man working in the Philippines makes the news. I wonder how many illegal Filipinos are working in Japan.

Random Filipino

Yeah I was quite surprised as well. I was thinking that it made the news precisely because it’s quite bizarre.

Most Filipinos (well, I for one) won’t be able to understand why the guy would choose to work in the Philippines instead of in Japan, given the disparity between salaries offered in the two countries. I mean, with all the Filipinos flying to Japan to work there (illegally or legally), why would any foreigner from a first world country go to work in the Philippines?

And I have no idea how the police found out about him. Given the Philippines’ inefficient police force, he should’ve been able to stay under their radar forever.

Anyway, this is the first time I’ve heard of a gainfully employed foreigner getting arrested for working. I know the Philippines has a prohibition on hiring foreign workers (except for instances where it can be shown that expertise required can’t be sourced from within the Philippines), but I always thought that it’s either loosely enforced, or easily circumvented (above or under the table). Most of the time we hear about foreign arrests in the Philippines it’s usually about Chinese named individuals in drug related operations (manufacturing, transportation, etc.). Illegally working Japanese is something new.

http://www.nihonzaru.com monkitaro

Most Filipinos (well, I for one) won’t be able to understand why the guy would choose to work in the Philippines instead of in Japan, given the disparity between salaries offered in the two countries. I mean, with all the Filipinos flying to Japan to work there (illegally or legally), why would any foreigner from a first world country go to work in the Philippines?

Because if he’s getting the equivalent of 300,000yen a month in pesos, he would be in paradise. It’s the same reason why many retiring Japanese choose to live in Malaysia, Thailand, even the Philippines. Of course, the guy may have other reasons.

tentaro

honestly…who in their right mind would overstay in the Philippines. Especially coming from Japan. Ok it’s cheap as heck to live there but why? yeah an as Sanzoku said above…there are a lot of illegal Filipinos working in Japan and always have been but that doesn’t make the news. funny …….

http://www.nihonzaru.com monkitaro

Illegal Filipinos in Japan don’t make the news these days because well… it’s not news anymore. Unless they did some horrible crime, most of them who get caught are just quietly deported.

Mister M

pretty sad!!
Japanese

This kind of news really saddens me..I saw many Japanese working illegally in Canada as well.
When I ask them “Why do you do this, knowing it’s illegal”, their answer is always the same.
” Many people are doing this, so it’s not a big problem”.

I don’t believe it!:(
concerned Filipino

I haven’t heard anyone point out yet that the issue of how many Filipinos are working illegally in Japan is completely irrelevant to the topic at hand.

BDiego

It’s totally relevant, because it’s ironic. Japan makes a huge deal about foreigners working illegally in Japan. Not that they shouldn’t, but they do.

Japanese man arrested for working in the Philippines without a visa

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