Filipino teen granted special permit to stay in Japan for 1 yr+

TOKYO, March 16 Kyodo - Justice Minister Eisuke Mori on Monday granted a 13-year-old Filipino girl a
special permit to stay in Japan for a year, after her parents decided last week
to leave her behind and return to the Philippines, Justice Ministry officials
said.

Arlan Calderon, 36, and his wife Sarah, 38, both facing deportation, will leave
for the Philippines on April 13 without their daughter Noriko, who was born and
raised in Japan and attends a local junior high school in Saitama Prefecture,
the officials said.
The special permit will allow the teenager, who speaks only Japanese, to
continue going to junior high school in Japan, the officials said.
The couple has decided to entrust Noriko to the care of Sarah's younger sister
who lives in Tokyo, according to their lawyer.
Although the family of three had hoped to be allowed to remain in Japan
together, the Japanese immigration authority gave them the choice of either
returning together to the Philippines or having only Noriko stay in Japan.
Arlan Calderon came to Japan in May 1993, a year after his wife. Both entered
the country using other people's passports and had stayed undetected in Japan
for years. Noriko was born in 1995.
But after Sarah was arrested for staying illegally in Japan, the family
received a deportation order in November 2006.
They filed a lawsuit seeking nullification of the deportation order, but the
Supreme Court rejected their petition in September 2008.
==Kyodo