Filipino girl petitions to stay, keep studying

A Filipino girl and her parents petitioned the government Thursday for special permission to acquire resident status so the 13-year-old, who was born and raised in Japan and cannot speak Tagalog, will be able to continue her studies here.

"Leaving Japan, the country where I was born and raised, is not something I could ever imagine," Noriko Calderon said at a news conference in Tokyo, wiping away tears with a handkerchief.

The family submitted the petitions to the Justice Ministry and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.

If Calderon is deported to the Philippines, she would have to start elementary school over because she does not understand Tagalog, according to Shogo Watanabe, a lawyer representing the family.

Calderon, who attends a junior high school in Warabi, Saitama Prefecture, said she had believed she was Japanese until her 38-year-old mother, Sarah, was arrested in July 2006 for not having a visa and the family was ordered to leave Japan.

The family filed an unsuccessful lawsuit in December 2006 to have the deportation order rescinded. They are currently on a provisional release status.

Her parents "are keenly aware of their responsibility for their violating laws and staying illegally," Watanabe said. "Yet we are seeking public understanding of their situation."

Their fate will be determined Nov. 27, when immigration authorities will decide whether to take them into custody for deportation, extend their temporary permission to stay or issue them with special permission for residence as requested.

Watanabe said it is likely the government will extend their present status to gain more time to examine the case.

According to Watanabe, there is a possibility Calderon alone may be allowed to stay in Japan, citing the case of an Iranian woman who was able to gain such special permission last year alone among her four family members so she could go to a junior college.