BI lets go of Canadian coed in Sona protest

MANILA, Philippines—The Canadian student who was detained Friday, almost eight weeks after she joined a protest rally during President Aquino’s State of the Nation Address on July 22, was allowed by the Bureau of Immigration (BI) to leave the country on Sunday.

Kim Chatillon-Meunier, 24, stepped out of the BI’s detention facility in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City, around 3 p.m., according to Edre Olalia of the National Union of People’s Lawyers.

Olalia said Meunier, an intern from the University of Montreal, boarded a BI service car going to Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) for a Cebu Pacific flight to Hong Kong at 7 p.m.

From Hong Kong, she would be booking a flight to Canada, Olalia said.

He said the BI held a special session Sunday morning and later issued a “voluntary deportation and release order” for the Canadian.

Immigration officials earlier placed Meunier on the BI watch list and arrested her at Naia Terminal 3 on Friday night as she waited for her flight to Hong Kong.—Niña P. Calleja