TOKYO, JAPAN — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Wednesday revealed that the “Luffy” criminal group could hinder the progress of his dialogue with the Japanese government during his official visit here so the Philippine government resorted to the rapid deportation of the Japanese nationals tagged in the robbery cases.
Seemingly refuting claims that the government’s move was a form of goodwill, Marcos claimed that the procedure for the deportation of the Japanese nationals involved in the special fraud case in Japan has been ongoing even “before the Japan trip was planned.”
He also claimed that it was a plain “coincidence” that the schedule of his arrival to Japan and the deportation of the two remaining suspects happened on the same day.
“It was actually in the process already before the Japan trip was even planned. It was just by coincidence that it happened,” Marcos told journalists in an interview aboard the Philippine Airlines flight PR-001.
To recall Philippine authorities repatriated two Japanese detainees — Kiyoto Imamura and Toshiya Fujita — on Tuesday, 7 February, and the last two — Yuki Watanabe and Tomonobu Kojima — the next day.
Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla earlier said that deportation procedures usually take two weeks.
Marcos, nevertheless, admitted that Japanese authorities demanded that the suspects be transferred to their custody immediately.
“It is a request from the Japanese government, and so we are always going to acquiesce to that request. We thought perhaps it would clear the decks as it were for the talks that we will have with the Japanese,” said the President.
“Well, we basically follow the same criteria as extradition. Although we did not do extradition because their request was to do it faster, so we deported them to make the process quicker. So that’s precisely what we did,” he added.
The Japanese nationals, who were detained at an immigration facility in Manila, were suspected to be the mastermind behind the string of robberies across their home country as well as last month’s robbery and murder case in the city of Komae.
According to the initial investigation by Japanese investigators, the four provided instructions through the mobile encrypted messaging application, Telegram, to burglars in Japan for them to carry out the crime — from breaking into homes, tying people up, and robbing them.