Israeli 'pervert' preying on Filipino women deported

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) has deported an Israeli man accused of tricking Filipino women into having sex with him in exchange for a better life abroad. Daniel Berner, 37, was deported Wednesday on board a Cathay Pacific flight bound for Hongkong and Tokyo enroute to Tel Aviv, Israel. Immigration chief Marcelino Libanan said the Israeli, who disguised himself as a Canadian and goes by many aliases, had victimized several Filipinas whom he had duped by sending them e-mails via the Internet. “He would usually promise his victims that he would marry them and bring them with him to Canada if they got pregnant with his child, thus he would entice them to have sex with him," Libanan said in a statement. Epifanio Lambino Jr., acting assistant chief of the bureau’s Law Enforcement Division (LED) said they first found out about Berner when one of his victims sought the help of a television station, which in turn referred the case to the BI. Berner was finally apprehended by the LED during an entrapment operation on July 29 at the Greenbelt Mall in Makati City. After the arrest, the BI board of commissioners issued the deportation order against him. He has also been included in the bureau’s blacklist. “Sex perverts like him (Berner) who exploit and take advantage of our women should be expelled and banned from re-entering our country," said Libanan. The BI chief said the Israeli entered the country as a tourist and was staying in the Philippines on a fraudulent passport. The BI also found out that Berner is wanted in Japan, Great Britain, and Canada for engaging in similar Internet fraud schemes and that a US$50,000 reward for his arrest has already been put up by authorities in Tokyo. - Kimberly Jane T. Tan, GMANews.TV