Rowdy, overstaying American faces deportation — Immigration exec

Bureau of Immigration INQUIRER PHOTO/ ALEXIS CORPUZ

An overstaying and undocumented American faces deportation amid numerous complaints of rowdy behavior by residents and business owners in Ermita, Manila, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said.

Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente on Sunday identified the American as Victor Didenko, 47, who was accosted last Friday near the corner of M.H. Del Pilar and Salas Streets, Ermita by members of the bureau’s fugitive search unit (BI-FSU).

Morente said Didenko, who is being held at the BI ward facility in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City, will be deported for being “undesirable, overstaying and undocumented” alien.

“Aside from being a notorious troublemaker, he will be deported for holding an expired US passport and overstaying his tourist visa,” Morente said in a statement.

The immigration chief added that the American has become a burden to society as he had been the “perennial subject of complaints by citizens who saw him frequently roam the streets of Manila and Pasay, begging for money from strangers and engaging in acts that disturb the peace.”

“We cannot allow unruly foreigners like him, who have no means of support, to stay in our country any longer, lest he becomes primarily dependent on the government for subsistence,” Morente said.

According to BI-FSU chief Bobby Raquepo, Didenko was charged in July before a Manila court for disturbing the peace.

Authorities arrested him along Mabini Street in Ermita for shouting insults against Filipinos and challenging people to a fight.

“We also heard that he had been begging from passersby on the pretext that he was robbed of his money and passport,” Raquepo said.

Didenko reportedly arrived in Manila in September 2016 and he had been overstaying since March when his tourist visa expired.

The United States embassy confirmed that his passport expired last Oct. 25, making him an undocumented alien. /cbb