Palau court affirms stay order on Pinay journalist's deportation

KOROR, PALAU - Palau’s Supreme Chief Justice Arthur Ngiraklsong denied the Palau government’s motion to reconsider the court's earlier decision to stay the deportation and allow the re-entry to Palau of Filipina journalist Bernadette Carreon. In a five-page order issued on June 17, the Palau Supreme Court disagrees that the Palau government's deportation order is not related to the lawsuit Carreon filed in 2010. Carreon was the class representative of an action suit against the Palau government in 2010. In a statement, Carreon said she filed a lawsuit against a regulation requiring all foreign workers to register and pay a fee that has been overruled by the court February of this year. In February, the court ruled that the regulation violates the fundamental right to equal protection of 6,000 non-resident workers. The Palau government is currently appealing the case. Overstaying According to Carreon, on May 16 this year, she received a letter from Immigration Director Jenkins Mariur requiring her to leave Palau by May 20 citing that she violated Immigration rules by overstaying. Mariur's letter reportedly said the “Bureau of Immigration does not see her continued stay as “ the best interest of the Office and the Republic of Palau." Carreon’s lawyer David Shipper, filed an emergency motion to stay deportation and permit re-entry. The emergency motion filed by Shipper said “class representative Ms. Carreon undertakes a fiduciary duty to represent adequately and forcefully the interests of the thousands of individual seeking relief from injustice. It is a solemn obligation that Ms. Carreon is determined to see to the end, even in the face of intimidation and fear of retribution." The motion stated that Carreon must be allowed to remain in Palau for her to remain the class action suit representative. “Once Ms. Carreon has left Palau without a right of return , it can be argued that she ceases to share the same threatened injury as the rest of the class… therefore “the defendants can assert that she no longer represents the interest of the class as a whole, and can make motion to the court to decertify the class or require the substitution of parties," the motion said. "Defendants should not be allowed to undermine the case of thousands by getting rid of them," the motion added. Court order On May 19, a day before Carreon was required to leave Palau, the court issued an order saying the “defendants are enjoined from taking any action to deport or block the re-entry of Carreon until further order of this court." In June, the Palau’s Attorney General’s Office filed a motion for the court to reconsider its decision. However, the motion was denied. The order states that the court is persuaded that Carreon’s presence in Palau, is necessary for the appeal and any potential remand to the Trial Division. - VVP, GMA News