The Supreme Court has upheld the deportation of a Dutch national who had been accused of committing bigamy by marrying two Filipino women in the Philippines.
In a 10-page decision written by Associate Justice Antonio Kho Jr., the SC Second Division junked the Petition for Review on Certiorari filed by Andre Charles Nagel who assailed rulings made by the Bureau of Immigration (BI) and the Court of Appeals (CA) on his case.
Nagel has been ordered deported by the Board of Commissioners-BI (BOC-BI) that acted on the complaint of his former wife, Michelle Dueñas, who accused him of contracting three marriages, two of which took place in the Philippines.
According to Dueñas, her former husband married Mychel Rebustillo on March 14, 2000 in Caloocan City then tied the knot with another woman in Taiwan in 2005. Their marriage took place in 2008 in Makati City but was annulled two years later following the discovery of Nagel’s previous marriages.
Dueñas said the polygamous marriages make Nagel an undesirable alien who deserved to be deported.
In 2016, the BOC-BI adopted the recommendation of the Board of Special Inquiry declaring Nagel an undesirable alien and accordingly, must be deported.
The BOC-BI said Nagel’s propensity in contracting illegal marriages “is a risk to public interest as it is against public policy.”
Feeling aggrieved, Nagel filed a petition for review before the CA which rejected the appeal for failing to exhaust administrative remedies and for being an improper remedy.
In asking the SC to reverse the previous rulings, Nagel said the BOC-BI does not have jurisdiction over the bigamy complaint and that he had been denied “fair play and due process.”
The High Court stressed that it is “not a trier of facts” and that a petition for review is limited only to questions of law. “Here, while Nagel claimed that he is raising pure questions of law, nowhere in his petition can it be concluded that he indeed raises questions of law,” the Second Division noted.
The Court said the BOC-BI never convicted Nagel for bigamy but ruled that “he is an undesirable alien on the ground that he committed bigamy.” "It is well to reiterate that this case stemmed from a deportation proceeding filed against Nagel. Thus, the BI, through the BOC-BI, is the agency that can best determine whether an alien violated immigration laws,” the SC explained.
According to the Court deportation proceedings “are administrative in character, thus, are summary in nature” and may not be conducted in accordance with the rules of ordinary court proceedings.
“As long as the parties are given the opportunity to be heard before judgment is rendered, the demands of due process are sufficiently met,” the magistrates declared.