BI: No info on owner of Benguet house where 2 foreigners nabbed

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) has no information on the owner of the residential house in Tuba, Benguet where two foreigners were arrested over the weekend, Immigration spokesperson Dana Sandoval said Monday.

“So far wala po kaming nare-receive na information as to the owner of the residence na nandoon. Wala rin po kaming official information or any data kung sinong nagmamay-ari ng bahay o kaya po ‘yung mga peripherals doon, ‘yung nasa paligid po,” Sandoval said on state-run PTV. 

(So far, we have not received any information as to the owner of the residence there. We also don’t have any official information or data on who owns the house or the peripherals there.)

Earlier, former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque admitted to being an incorporator of a company that owns the house. He said that the house was leased to a Chinese national named Huan Yun, whom he tagged as a "legal resident of the Philippines" 

According to Sandoval, the authorities’ intended target was initially a Chinese woman has links to the raided Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator hub in Bamban, Tarlac.

She was not found, however, and two other foreign nationals were arrested.

“Isang Chinese woman and isang lalaking nag papakilala po na Cambodian. Ito pong dalawang ito ay nakitaan din po ng Immigration violation, kaya hinuli rin po itong dalawang ito,” she said.

(One Chinese woman and one male Cambodian. We found that they also have Immigration violations and so they were arrested.)

Meanwhile, Sandoval said the two foreigners are up for deportation.

They are currently being detained at a facility of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission.—LDF, GMA Integrated News