Marianas deports 14 RP workers

Marianas deports 14 RP workers

MANILA (Reuter): The U.S.-linked Northern Marianas government has deported 14 Filipinos for illegally working in the territory, the Philippine foreign office said yesterday.

The 14, including seven women, denied they were working illegally although many had expired entry permits and had entered the area on tourist or business visas, a foreign office statement said.

They were arrested on Aug. 25 and were expelled from the territory of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) two days later.

Philippine labor and CNMI officials recently said they were tightening rules on Filipinos working in the small Pacific island territory, 2,400 kilometers east of the Philippines, after reports migrant workers' rights were routinely violated by their employers.