My girlfriend was held at a police station for 48 hours for a debt. Debt was paid and she was released. Will this disqualify her4 for a Visa. And if not and we get married there in the Philippines, what is that Visa Called?

[Kby175 115]

19 minutes ago, Joe Kano said:

Only case of this I am familiar with is the husband filed a case against the guy,   he paid the husband to have the charges dropped. 

 

This seems to be the way the court system works in the Philippines where the defendant has a period of time from when charges are filed and the case goes to court to work out an agreement which is monetary in order to have person drop charges.

 

Yep, that is the way it works over there, pretty sure everyone gets a piece of the pie 

[Carpe Vinum 2,327]

2 hours ago, Chancy said:

 

I strongly recommend you postpone any marriage plans until you and your girlfriend get her record sorted out.  Marrying you will not make it any easier for her to overcome the criminal grounds for inadmissibility for US immigration.  What she needs now is a lawyer to help defend her in the Philippines, not a lawyer in Arizona.

 

Before that, I hope you don't take offense as I mean no disrespect, but I have to ask -- Have you met your girlfriend in person?  Did you see proof that she was actually arrested and imprisoned?  Was there an arrest warrant?  Did she ask you for money so she could get out of prison?  Did you send her the money?

 

I ask because while estafa is an actual crime in the Philippines, no one is supposed to get imprisoned for it until after they are convicted in court.  Suspects may be detained after arrest, but not for more than 1 day for a non-capital offense.  I understand that you may not want to write up the details about your girlfriend's circumstances, and that's ok.  It's just that with the few bits of info we have, lots of points seem to be off with the story.

 

Excellent advice given. Doubtful she would be held for this initially. Things like this are usually handled at the barangay level. I would be wary of a sick caribou in your future. As I recall you have been to the Philippines before and went through the process. You should know the score.

[Joe Kano 327]

1 hour ago, Kby175 said:

Yep, that is the way it works over there, pretty sure everyone gets a piece of the pie 

Now that's funny

[Joe Kano 327]

4 hours ago, RO_AH said:

My guess is that if the lender was paid back charges were dropped. The story does seem odd though because the law is rarely enforced or half the Philippines would be in jail.

 

😅

[Commish10 427]

10 hours ago, AMG32id said:

She borrowed money for her Dads funeral, and told the friend that loaned her the money that she would pay it back in 2 days, but she could not get it in 2 days. I guess the person reported her to the police, and they wrote her up, and held her for 2 more days. Then we got the money and she was released. Is this a crime that we have to report in our Visa request? And which Visa doI need if we get married first in the Philippines? I am thinking of using a Lawyer, any recommendations in Chandler Arizona?

I have heard of this. Although I don't know how it will appear on a police cert. 

[Joe Kano 327]

29 minutes ago, Commish10 said:

I have heard of this. Although I don't know how it will appear on a police cert. 

Where they arrested without a court trail?

 

Or were they arrested on the claim?

[Commish10 427]

Just now, Joe Kano said:

Where they arrested without a court trail?

 

Or were they arrested on the claim?

it was a friend of my fiancee. She owed money to a person there. That person made a complaint to the police and was taken into custody based on what the lender told them. A family member paid the lender and she was released. I would think that they are arrested on the claim and held for court trial. 

[nelmagriffin 148]

 

Greetings!

In my opinion, No one can be in jail for not paying debt, however, they still can go to court and you might just end up paying your debt within your capability, ex. monthly payments.

 

Reference: Can you go to jail for debt in the Philippines? – Colors-NewYork.com

 

Can you go to jail for debt in the Philippines?

The short answer to this question is No. The Bill of Rights (Art. III, Sec. 20 ) of the 1987 Charter expressly states that “No person shall be imprisoned for debt…” This is true for credit card debts as well as other personal debts.

[Joe Kano 327]

23 minutes ago, Commish10 said:

it was a friend of my fiancee. She owed money to a person there. That person made a complaint to the police and was taken into custody based on what the lender told them. A family member paid the lender and she was released. I would think that they are arrested on the claim and held for court trial. 

Interesting

 

I can totally see that scenario happening in the Philippine.

[Adventine 3,196]

6 hours ago, Chancy said:

 

I strongly recommend you postpone any marriage plans until you and your girlfriend get her record sorted out.  Marrying you will not make it any easier for her to overcome the criminal grounds for inadmissibility for US immigration.  What she needs now is a lawyer to help defend her in the Philippines, not a lawyer in Arizona.

 

Before that, I hope you don't take offense as I mean no disrespect, but I have to ask -- Have you met your girlfriend in person?  Did you see proof that she was actually arrested and imprisoned?  Was there an arrest warrant?  Did she ask you for money so she could get out of prison?  Did you send her the money?

 

I ask because while estafa is an actual crime in the Philippines, no one is supposed to get imprisoned for it until after they are convicted in court.  Suspects may be detained after arrest, but not for more than 1 day for a non-capital offense.  I understand that you may not want to write up the details about your girlfriend's circumstances, and that's ok.  It's just that with the few bits of info we have, lots of points seem to be off with the story.

 

 

I also agree that this is excellent advice. 2 days is an extremely short period of time to expect to be paid back the money, whether by PH or US standards. I have never heard of someone in the PH being put in jail after a 2 day delay in payment. Usually the two parties try to work it out between themselves, then escalate the dispute to the barangay, and ONLY if they do not get a resolution at the barangay level do they seek legal advice from an attorney and file a case.

 

Depending on where the girlfriend is, just the initial attorney fees could be more expensive than the cost of the funeral.

 

 

12 hours ago, AMG32id said:

She borrowed money for her Dads funeral, and told the friend that loaned her the money that she would pay it back in 2 days, but she could not get it in 2 days.

 

I also mean no disrespect, but you should be asking the hard questions as mentioned by the other posters.

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

18 minutes ago, Adventine said:

I have never heard of someone in the PH being put in jail after a 2 day delay in payment. 

I have heard of this type of claim in a different context. I hope that is not what has happened here.
 

Not sure what happened to OP’s previous K case.

[Adventine 3,196]

49 minutes ago, SusieQQQ said:

I have heard of this type of claim in a different context. I hope that is not what has happened here.
 

Not sure what happened to OP’s previous K case.

 

What would be that context?

 

The usual practice in the PH is for 1) funeral homes to ask for a down payment or full payment before rendering service, and 2) during the funeral, visitors often give money to the grieving family.

 

So I can easily see a scenario where the girlfriend urgently needed cash to organize the funeral, but I cannot easily see a scenario where the girlfriend could not pay back her lender, even partially, in a short amount of time.

[Chancy 6,241]

2 hours ago, nelmagriffin said:

In my opinion, No one can be in jail for not paying debt, however, they still can go to court and you might just end up paying your debt within your capability, ex. monthly payments.

 

You are right that no one can be sent to jail simply for non-payment of debts.  But it is possible to be charged with estafa, which is a criminal offense punishable by jail time (refer to Article 315 of the Revised Penal Code of the Philippines).

 

A charge of estafa would be the most plausible reason for the OP's gf's arrest.  Otherwise, there seems to be no legal basis for her imprisonment.  That said, it is questionable that there was actually estafa involved.  To be convicted, it must be proven in court that there was fraud or deceit involved.  As mentioned above, the legal fees to pursue the case would probably be higher than the cost of a funeral.

 

Just for kicks, I found an actual case of someone found guilty of estafa and sentenced to jail.  The circumstances involved non-payment of money borrowed from a friend -- https://lawphil.net/judjuris/juri2008/aug2008/gr_171121_2008.html

 

[Talako 785]

1 hour ago, Chancy said:

Just for kicks, I found an actual case of someone found guilty of estafa and sentenced to jail.  The circumstances involved non-payment of money borrowed from a friend -- https://lawphil.net/judjuris/juri2008/aug2008/gr_171121_2008.html

 

The case highlights the difference between a loan and funds received in trust.  If it was loan, she wouldn't have gone to jail for just over 4 years for estafa. 

[Chancy 6,241]

24 minutes ago, Talako said:

The case highlights the difference between a loan and funds received in trust.  If it was loan, she wouldn't have gone to jail for just over 4 years for estafa. 

 

Yes, the accused makes a big deal out of it not being a loan.  But the fact remains that there was money owed between friends that was not paid back.

 

"Further, during the private complainant’s testimony before the court a quo, she never failed to state that the only consideration for lending the subject money to the petitioner was their friendship. The private complainant bestowed her trust on the petitioner because of the said friendship. Indeed, the money was given to the petitioner by the private complainant without any interest at all. Thus, there exists a fiduciary relationship between the petitioner and the private complainant which is an essential element of estafa by misappropriation or conversion."