SC CIRCULAR NO. 3-99, January 12, 1999

The Commissioner of Immigration has apprised this
Office, through a letter dated 5 January 1999, of problems encountered
by immigration officers in the implementation of Hold-Departure Orders
issued by the Regional Trial Courts. Such problems related to the
identification of the person whose departure from the country has been
enjoined owing to incomplete or incorrect information, with particular
reference to instances wherein two or more persons bear the same first
and last names.

In the issuance of (1) orders directing the inclusion
of the name of any person in the hold-departure list of the Bureau of
Immigration; or (2) Hold-Departure Orders, all judges shall comply
strictly with the provisions of Section 3 of Circular No. 39-97 dated 19
June 1997. This section provides that the order involved shall contain
the following information:

“a. The complete name (including the middle name), the date and
place of the birth and the place of last residence of the person against
whom a Hold-Departure Order has been issued or whose departure from the
country has been enjoined;

b. The complete title and the docket number of the case in which the Hold-Departure Order was issued;

c. The specific nature of the case; and

d. The date of the Hold-Departure Order.”

Should information on the alias/aliases and the number of the
passport of the person subject of the Hold-Departure Order be available,
the same should be included in the order involved. The completion of
all required information in the court order will obviate problems of
identification and will facilitate the effective implementation thereof
by the immigration agents of the Bureau of Immigration.

For strict compliance.

12 January 1999, Manila.