The Bureau of Immigration (BI) announced the arrest of a Japanese national wanted by authorities in Tokyo for arranging a fake marriage between a compatriot and a Filipina so that latter could acquire a residence visa in Japan.
In a report to Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente, the BI’s Fugitive Search Unit (FSU) identified the fugitive as 63-year-old Hiratsuka Masakazu, who was arrested on Monday along Nicanor Padilla St., San Miguel, Manila.
Masakazu was arrested by the FSU, in coordination with Japanese authorities, the National Bureau of Investigation Special Action Unit (NBI-SAU), and the Mendiola Police Community Precinct, on the strength of a warrant of deportation following a summary deportation order that the BI Board of Commissioners issued against the Japanese for being an undesirable alien.
He was also ordered deported for being an undocumented alien as his passport was already cancelled by the Japanese government.
According to BI-FSU Acting Chief Rendel Ryan Sy, Masakazu is subject of an arrest warrant issued last April 21 by the Tokyo Summary Court where he was charged with making false entries in a notarized deed of marriage.
Japanese authorities alleged that sometime in November 2011, Masakazu conspired with other accomplices in faking the marriage of a Japanese man to a Filipina to enable the latter to obtain a long-term immigrant visa in Japan.
BI nabs Japanese man wanted for arranging sham marriage
The suspects allegedly submitted to the Civil Registry Office of the local government of Kawaguchi City a certificate of the sham marriage which the fake couple purportedly entered into via a civil wedding ceremony in the Philippines.
Said false marriage certificate was duly accepted and entered into the electromagnetic records of the Kawaguchi City Hall as Igarashi’s family registry, and for use as the original of a notarized deed of marriage.
Sy shared that during the course of the arrest, a man who claimed to be an NBI agent came to interfere with the ongoing operations. However, upon confirmation with NBI operatives, it was confirmed that the man was not a legitimate employee of the NBI. He was likewise arrested by the NBI-SAU for usurpation of authority, and for obstruction of justice.
Masakazu, on the other hand, is presently detained at the BI Detention Facility in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City pending his deportation. He has been placed in the BI blacklist and perpetually banned from re-entering the Philippines.
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