The Bureau of Immigration (BI) urged foreign nationals residing in the country whose relatives and acquaintances have died to report their deaths to the bureau so it can update its records and cancel these late aliens’ registration.
Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente explained that under the 1950 Alien Registration Act, the parents or relatives or persons in charge of the burial of a deceased alien are required to surrender the latter’s alien certificate of registration identity card (ACR I-Card) to the bureau.
The Immigration chief said it is the obligation of these relatives or friends of deceased aliens to report their deaths to the BI.
Morente added that the deceased aliens’ ACR I-Cards should be surrendered to the BI’s registration officers at the bureau’s alien registration division (ARD) for cancellation and deactivation.
The BI chief stressed that reporting of deceased aliens to the bureau is vital in properly monitoring the presence of aliens in the country, and help the government formulate policies and actions in determining potential threats to public safety and public health amid the coronavirus pandemic.
According to lawyer Jose Carlitos Licas, BI alien registration chief, the term “person in charge” refers also to owners and/or operators of funeral parlors, cryo-regeneration facilities, cemeteries, crypts, and crematoria.
“Our bureau is mandated by law to monitor the arrival, presence, activities, departure, re-entry and even death of aliens, whether they are staying in the country legally or illegally,” Licas stressed.
The Standard learned that since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, the BI has not received any report of deaths of foreigners.
Records also show that as of January 2021, only 1,222 ACR I-Cards were cancelled by reason of deaths of aliens.
Licas also said reporting aliens’ deaths will enable the BI to inform the concerned embassies of their deceased nationals.