SC JUNKS PETIITION FOR RELEASE OF PINAY FUGITIVE

THE Supreme Court (SC) has denied an application for a writ of amparo seeking the immediate release of a Filipino woman, who is allegedly a fugitive from justice in the United States with an outstanding arrest warrant issued against her. In a fullcourt decision penned by Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, the SC denied the petition filed by one Lorie Marie Tomas Callo asking for the freedom of Danielle Tan Parker from the Bureau of Immigration Detention Facility, Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan, Taguig City. Parker is a holder of a Philippine passport issued by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on March 5, 2010 and valid until March 4, 2015. On January 15, 2013, Danielle Nopuente, also known as Isabelita Nopuente and Danielle Tan Parker, was charged for being an undesirable, undocumented and overstaying alien, in violation of Section 3 7 (a)(7) of the Philippine Immigration Act of 1940, as amended, in relation to Rule XVI, Office Memorandum. Subsequently, on January 24, 2013, a Summary Deportation Order (SDO) was issued against Nopuente upon verification that she arrived in the Philippines under the Balikbayan Program, with an authorized stay of one year. Parker was not on the list of approved applications of the DFA for dual citizenship and her American passport had been revoked by the US. Thus, she was considered an undocumented, undesirable and overstaying alien, in violation of the Philippine Immigration Act of 1940. On June 4, 2014, pursuant to the SDO issued by the BI, Parker was arrested in Tagaytay City on the premise that Nopuente and Parker are one and the same person. She was then taken to the immigration detention facility and is currently detained there as her deportation was not carried out because Parker is charged with falsification and use of falsified documents before Branch 4, Municipal Trial Court in Cities, Davao City. In March 2017, Callo filed this petition for a writ of amparo with prayer to issue Interim Reliefs of Immediate Release of Parker from Detention.