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CEBU CITY, Philippines - The Japanese tourist who allegedly hit the Cebu governor’s daughter will be deported and will be placed on the immigration blacklist.
Isao Tanaka, 65, was expected to be deported through summary proceedings and placed on the Philippines’ immigration blacklist for allegedly hitting lawyer Maria Esperanza Christina Garcia-Codilla, daughter of Cebu Gov. Gwen Garcia, past 11 a.m. Tuesday.
“He will be deported immediately for being an undesirable tourist. Most likely, since he’ll be deported, he’ll be placed on our blacklist and he won’t be able to return here,” said Ferdinand Sampol, immigration chief at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).
Rep. Pablo John Garcia (Cebu 3rd district) said yesterday that Tanaka deserved to be called an undesirable alien for allegedly punching her niece, Ma. Esperanza Christina. Representative Garcia is Governor Garcia’s brother.
Representative Garcia said Tanaka has no respect for women and the Filipino culture.
“We value and respect women, but he (Tanaka), what did he do to my niece?” asked Garcia.
He said Tanaka showed his arrogrance when he dropped some names when he was investigated at the Bureau of Immigration.
Lawyer Rory Jon Sepulveda, Capitol consultant on information and revenue collection, for his part, said that he had an initial information that Tanaka is a frequent visitor of Lapu-Lapu City.
He said that they were still verifying if Tanaka is a tourist or has a business in Cebu.
Tanaka, who is currently detained in an immigration holding cell at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City, was accosted by airport authorities before noon Tuesday on Codilla’s complaint that the Japanese punched her in the back while they waited to retrieve baggage at the NAIA Centennial Terminal’s domestic wing.
Both had just arrived from Cebu via Philippine Airlines flight PR 848 and were standing by the baggage conveyor when Tanaka allegedly blew up at Codilla for putting her push cart by the machine, airport police said.
Codilla then suddenly felt a fist to her back. A fellow passenger, Exuperio Bajaria Jr., who is also a balikbayan, attested to Codilla’s narration and told police that Tanaka indeed hit the 26-year-old woman.
"I don’t know the lady, but I saw the whole incident ... the Japanese man hit the woman without provocation,” Bajaria said in a report at www.journal.com.ph.
“The complainant was ‘shocked’ of the incident then asked why the Japanese punched her. The Japanese then told her: ‘You can just punch me back,’” the NAIA police said in a report.
Codilla then alerted police, who took Tanaka to the police detachment for questioning, then seized his passport.
On orders of the Immigration headquarters, Tanaka was detained while awaiting deportation proceedings. He also faces separate charges of slight physical injuries. /Inquirer and Reporter Nilda L. Gallo
