Dutch man declared persona non grata in Cebu town to be deported

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) will be deporting a Dutch national who was declared persona non grata by a town council in Cebu for illegally constructing two resorts in a town there.

Vondeling Niklaas, 61, was arrested last week by the BI’s fugitive search unit at his home in Barangay Eastern Poblacion, Poro, Cebu.

BI commissioner Jaime Morente said the Dutch national, aside from being an undesirable alien, was also an overstaying foreigner.

Niklaas was apprehended through a warrant of deportation and a deportation order that the BI board of commissioners issued against him in September 2015.

The BI ordered the Dutch national’s expulsion after the town council of San Francisco, Cebu and the council of Barangay Eastern Poblacion both passed a resolution in July 2014.

Both councils declared him persona non grata and recommended his deportation.

Both resolutions said Niklaas was “inimical to public order, safety and morals.”

The issue stemmed from the foreigner’s alleged construction of two resorts in the town without the proper local government building permits.

Niklaas was also charged with grave oral defamation following a heated altercation with local officials over the issue of the lack of building permits.

“Foreigners like him who refuse to comply with our laws and openly manifest disrespect to persons of authority do not deserve the privilege to stay in our country,” Morente said in a statement.

BI fugitive search unit chief Bobby Raquepo said it took the BI some time to effect the Dutch national’s arrest as he appealed the deportation order.

On November 17, 2016, the BI board of commissioners passed a resolution denying his motion for reconsideration, affirming the finality of the deportation order.

“He had been overstaying here for a long time already as there was no way he could apply for an extension of his stay due to his inclusion in the Immigration blacklist,” Raquepo said. /je