Japan tells Filipino family to leave

DESPITE UN INQUIRY

Agence France-Presse and Inquirer.net
First Posted 22:46:00 02/27/2009

TOKYO—Japan on Friday told the parents of a 13-year-old Filipina to leave the country, with or without her, despite an inquiry launched into the case by the United Nations, the family said.

The parents of Noriko Calderon, who was born and raised in Japan, have been ordered to leave because they entered in the early 1990s with illegal passports in a case that has drawn much public sympathy here.

Nearly 20,000 people have signed a petition asking the government to allow all three to stay so that the girl, who speaks only Japanese, can finish her schooling in the country.

The immigration office on Friday gave the parents another 10 days, warning that all three of them could be detained after that deadline if the parents don't leave Japan voluntarily, said the father, Arlan Cruz Calderon.

"We were told that all three of us would be detained if we (the parents) don't go back," he told reporters.

The parents lived undetected until two years ago when the mother was arrested. Last September the Supreme Court rejected their appeal to stay, but the immigration office allowed the daughter to continue her studies in Japan.

Justice Minister Eisuke Mori, who oversees immigration policy, repeated Friday that "permission for the entire family to stay will not be granted."

Japan has received an inquiry from the UN Human Rights Council and is currently preparing information on the Calderons.

An official of the immigration bureau said it was following legal procedures and added: "We understand the opinion of the UN office is not binding."

The family's lawyer Shogo Watanabe criticized the immigration office.

"The office should be well aware that the UN is looking into the case," he told reporters. "That the office is giving no leniency under this circumstance is regrettable and infuriating.”