Canadian lecturer on Islam to be deported by PH

MANILA – Philippine immigration authorities have disclosed the intent to deport a Canadian national this week on the grounds of allegedly “inciting and recruiting locals to conduct terrorist activities.”

Bureau of Immigration (BI) Commissioner Siegfred Mison said on Wednesday that the Canadian national, Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips, will be deported within the week on a complaint filed by the bureau that Philippis is an “undesirable alien.”

The complaint was that the based on intelligence surveillance reports that have indicated the Canadian to be linked with Islamist militants.

“Based on various sources of information, he was supposed to be inciting and recruiting people to conduct terrorist activities,” Mison told reporters, but gave no details of the sources.

Mison added that Philips would be the second foreign national to be deported over such purported involvement with Islamist militants. The first was an Australian Islamic preacher nabbed last July in the city of Cebu.

Philips, a lecturer in Islamic and Arabic studies, was questioned by police in southern Davao City on Sunday, a few days after his arrival, and shortoly before he was to set out to Zamboanga City to give a lecture to Muslim, Mison said.

“He was also barred from entry into Germany and other European states for his activities. Right now, he is in the custody of the police. He is blacklisted,” the BI chief added.

Police further alleged that Philips has also been denied entry to the United States and Australia for activities thatwere considered a threat to national security.

Approximately 40,000 Filipinos and foreigners, including Islamic militants, fugitives and members of criminal gangs are on the BI’s blacklist of “undesirables.”

Mison noted that it is often difficult to keep Islamist militants from entering Philippine territory, and they rely on information from intelligence agencies or other countries to weed them out.