Jordanian who mauled wife in Davao faces deportation

BI Intelligence Division acting chief Fortunato S. Manahan Jr. said Kamal Isam Kamal Abu Beih was arrested by operatives of the bureau’s Mindanao Intelligence Task Group (MITG) on August 9. (File Photo By Elmer B. Domingo – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0)

MANILA — The Bureau of Immigration (BI) on Friday reported the arrest of a 39-year-old Jordanian national in Davao City for beating up his Filipina wife and working in the country without a permit.

BI Intelligence Division acting chief Fortunato S. Manahan Jr. said Kamal Isam Kamal Abu Beih was arrested by operatives of the bureau’s Mindanao Intelligence Task Group (MITG) on August 9.

He added that Commissioner Jaime Morente issued a mission order for the foreigner’s arrest after his estranged wife, who was not identified, complained about the physical assault that happened two months ago.

“She narrated that her husband continued to threaten and harass her at the police headquarters where she filed a complaint and reported the incident,” Manahan said in a statement.

“He will be deported because we cannot allow undesirable aliens to physically harm and trample on the dignity of our Filipino women,” he added.

On the other hand, BI Intelligence Officer Melody Gonzales, BI-MITG head, said the Jordanian was also working in the country without the proper visa.

It was found out that he owned and operated a shawarma business at the Roxas night market in the city.

She added that the couple’s relationship turned sour after the Jordanian left his wife, with whom she is married since 2007, supposedly to live with another woman.

The BI official said the victim claimed that her husband physically attacked her during a heated argument in their house last June 27, where he strangled and almost choked her to death.

The attack happened in the presence of their minor children, she said.

“Even when they were already at the police station, subject continued to threaten her, disrespecting the police officers who investigated the incident,” Gonzales said in her report.