BI arrests 180 foreigners illegally working in Parañaque call center

From gmanetwork.com:

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) on Monday arrested 180 Chinese, Taiwanese, and Indonesian nationals who were working illegally at an online gaming and call center company in Parañaque City.

“Meron pong anonymous tip na binigay po sa ating operatives at nag-surveillance po for how many weeks,” BI spokesperson Atty. Elaine Tan explained on a Tuesday report on GMA 7’s “24 Oras”. “Tapos nung na-verify na talaga na merong operations na nangyayari, merong illegal na nagtatrabaho without the proper immigration documents, nag-conduct na po ng operations.”

Tan added that many of the foreigners either had no visas or had no papers allowing them to legally work at the call center. However, those who did have the correct documents were promptly released.

“Kung wala po silang mga proper documents, magkakaroon po sila ng deportation charge,” Tan said.

One of those taken into custody was Jason Song, a Chinese national, who insisted he had nothing to do with the company. “Me in the meeting room only. That’s only what I’m doing. Just smoking and drinking with a friend. If you do it in another country, you’ll see the same. You can go to the office and you can meet them only using a tourist visa,” asserted Song. — Rie Takumi/DVM, GMA News