Pinoy ordered to leave CNMI for human smuggling attempt

SUSUPE, Saipan – A Filipino contract worker in Saipan who piloted a boat attempting to smuggle 11 Chinese nationals to Guam in June 2007 has been ordered to depart the US Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) immediately upon receipt of his repatriation ticket.

Saipan, the capital of the CNMI, is less than an hour away from Guam by plane.

Edwin Fariola Blanilla, 45, pleaded guilty to one count of smuggling a person from the CNMI to the US for commercial advantage or financial gain.

CNMI Superior Court Associate Judge Ramona V. Manglona accepted Blanilla's plea.

The judge sentenced him to five years in prison, all suspended except for eight months and 20 days.

Following the plea agreement, the judge gave Blanilla credit for the time he had already served from June 29, 2007 through March 19, 2008.

The defendant was released from the CNMI Department of Corrections on Wednesday.

He was placed on five years of unsupervised probation and required to pay a $100 court assessment fee within 30 days.

The judge ordered the defendant to depart the CNMI immediately upon receipt of his repatriation airline ticket.

The defendant will not be allowed to return to the CNMI.

Blanilla was supposed to drop off 11 Chinese nationals in the waters near Guam on June 27, 2007 so they could enter the territory.

In exchange for piloting the boat, he was to receive the boat as payment which he planned to sell before returning to the Philippines.

However, the boat got stranded 20 nautical miles northwest of Guam.

According to court papers, it was Blanilla who called authorities for help when the boat got stranded.

The 12 individuals, including Blanilla, were questioned and charged after authorities learned they didn’t have passports in their possession, nor did they have any type of visa authorizing them to enter Guam.

Unlike the CNMI, Guam requires foreign nationals to secure a US visa for entry. - Haidee V. Eugenio, GMANews.TV

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