BI to foreigners: Marriage to Philippine citizen no ticket for indefinite stay

A foreigner who is married to a Philippine citizen could acquire the privilege of being a permanent resident, but not the right to stay in the country indefinitely, the Bureau of Immigration said on Thursday. BI officer-in-charge Ronaldo Ledesma stressed this point after the arrest of an American, William Silas Parlin, 41, who is wanted in the US for mail fraud. Parlin had been issued a permanent visa by the BI because of his marriage to a Philippine citizen. Ledesma said an alien’s stay in the Philippines is not a right – only a privilege, which can be withdrawn anytime. "Parlin lost that privilege when we found out that he is a fugitive from justice and, therefore, an undesirable alien," Ledesma said. The American's "marriage to a Filipina does not withdraw him from the operation of our immigration laws nor does it make him ipso facto a Filipino citizen," added Ledesma, who authored several books on Philippine immigration laws. Parlin was arrested by BI-Interpol operatives last November 22 in his residence in Pateros, Metro Manila, by virtue of a deportation warrant Ledesma issued based on a summary deportation order of the BI board of commissioners. He will soon be deported to stand trial for mail fraud before a US district court in Maine that issued a warrant for his arrest. — LBG, GMANews.TV