BI arrests Japanese man for arranging Filipina’s fake marriage

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) on Monday arrested a Japanese national wanted by authorities in Tokyo for arranging a fake marriage between a compatriot and a Filipina so that the latter could acquire a residence visa in Japan.

The BI’s Fugitive Search Unit (FSU) identified the fugitive as 63-year-old Hiratsuka Masakazu, who was arrested in San Miguel, Manila.

A warrant of deportation was presented following a summary deportation order that the BI Board of Commissioners issued against him for being an “undesirable alien.” Due to this, he was ordered deported as his passport was already cancelled by the Japanese government.

According to BI-FSU Acting Chief Rendel Ryan Sy, the arrest warrant was issued on April 21 by the Tokyo Summary Court, where Masakazu was charged for making false entries in a notarized deed of marriage.

Japanese authorities claimed that sometime in November 2011, Masakazu conspired with other accomplices in faking the marriage of a Japanese man to a Filipina to enable her to obtain a long-term immigrant visa in Japan.       

A false marriage certificate was submitted by the couple to the Civil Registry Office of the local government of Kawaguchi City which showed they entered a civil wedding ceremony in the Philippines.

The said marriage certificate was then duly accepted and entered into the electromagnetic records of the Kawaguchi City Hall as Igarashi’s family registry, and for use as the original of a notarized deed of marriage.

Masakazu was arrested during a joint operation by the FSU, Japanese authorities, the National Bureau of Investigation Special Action Unit (NBI-SAU), and the Mendiola Police Community Precinct.

He is currently detained at the BI Detention Facility in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City with a pending deportation. He has also been placed in the BI blacklist and is perpetually banned from re-entering the Philippines.

Sy added that during the arrest, a man who claimed to be an NBI agent came to interfere with the ongoing operations. However, he was said to be an illegitimate employee of the NBI upon confirmation with the operatives. The man was also arrested by the NBI-SAU for usurpation of authority and for obstruction of justice. — Giselle Ombay/BM, GMA News