After 13 years, deported dad can't speak Filipino

MARK JOSEPH UBALDE, GMANews.TV
04/14/2009 | 02:13 PM

MANILA, Philippines - Thirteen years in Japan made the 36-year-old OFW Arlan Calderon forget to speak in his native tongue.

Calderon, who was deported to Manila on Monday evening along with his wife Sarah, 38, only entertained questions from the Japanese media waiting at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, QTV’s Balitanghali reported.

"I can no longer understand Tagalog," Calderon told reporters in Japanese. “In the 13 years that I lived in Japan I learned a lot of things. I only have Japanese friends."

The Calderon couple entered Japan in the early 90s under false documents to work and ultimately settle there. Their daughter, Noriko, was born there in 1995 and is now studying in a Japanese school.

In 2006, Japan’s Immigration Bureau discovered the couple’s illegal papers and they were forced to leave their 13-year-old daughter in Japan. Noriko is a naturalized Japanese citizen and was the only one allowed to stay.

Calderon, who looks more Japanese than Filipino, said it is important for him to be with his daughter especially since she is still a minor. The Japanese government only allowed the Calderon couple to return to Japan a year after their deportation.

“My daughter is just 13 years old she doesn’t know anything yet. She still can’t protect herself," Calderon said in Japanese.

Sarah spoke only a little Tagalog when asked by the Filipino reporters.

“Masakit para sa magulang [It is very difficult for a parent]," Sarah replied when asked how she feels about the separation with her daughter.

Japan’s Immigration Bureau tends to grant special permission to undocumented families whose children are already in junior high school, as it is considered “inhumane" to deport a child who can only speak the Japanese language and has spent more than six years in the Japan’s education system.

Since 2006, the Filipino family has been asking the Japanese government to let them stay together in the country, but the Supreme Court turned down their plea last September.

According to Japan’s Immigration Bureau, there are about 113,072 illegal foreign residents staying in the country as of January.

The Commission on Filipinos Overseas’ estimate in 2007 showed there were 202,557 Filipinos in Japan, but it did not say how many were undocumented.

In 2007, some 7,388 foreigners received special permission to stay in Japan while 39,382 were deported in 2008. - GMANews.TV

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