The Russians are going…

Bureau of Immigration building. Photo from Bureau of Immigration website

MANILA, Philippines—The Bureau of Immigration (BI) has allowed 10 Russian nationals who were arrested in November last year in Cebu on suspicion of being undocumented aliens to leave the country after their request for voluntary deportation was granted.

Immigration Commissioner Siegfred Mison on Friday said the 10 foreigners returned to their homeland in batches via Philippine Airlines.

The foreigners were identified as: Nadezda Vorontsova, 30; Margarita Oglazova, 23; Anna Tseysova, 29; Olga Filichkina, 29; Andrei Chkalov, 24; Sergie Solokheenko, 27; Anna Panova, 29; Alexandra Svechnikova, 26; Daria Klykova, 25; and Olga Gusenko, 27.

They were assisted and represented by Consul Vadim Zaystev, head of the consular division of the Russian Embassy, when they filed their plea for voluntary deportation.

“We have given them due process by deleting their names in the hold departure list after the dismissal of the deportation case,” said Mison, adding that the foreigners were not misled into signing their request for voluntary deportation.

He said the bureau returned to the foreigners the cash bonds they paid following their arrest.

The granting of the voluntary deportation request was also made “in the spirit of diplomatic and friendly relations between the Philippines and Russia,” he said.

Records showed that the 10 foreigners were arrested on Nov. 5 last year by police operatives in connection with the bureau’s alien mapping program, which is aimed at keeping track of the entry of foreigners into the country, checking the status of their stay and boosting the bureau’s income. Jocelyn R. Uy

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