Ricardo Manalang thought his financial, emotional and psychological nightmare was over when the woman who duped him into marrying her and bringing her to Canada was ordered deported.
Federal courts issued an order demanding the woman be returned to her native Philippines because of misrepresentation during the immigration process.
Four years later, however, Gloriza Dela Rea Manalang, 36, remains in Canada, where she will stay until an application for spousal sponsorship filed by her latest husband is either approved or denied.
All despite the fact court documents prove she falsified birth certificates of her two children, fudged details of her life in the Philippines and forged her still-living first husband's death certificate in order to marry and enter the country with her daughters.
Now, the family of Ricardo Manalang say they fear justice may never be served.
Yesterday afternoon he sat sullenly in his home, looking at the floor while his sister explained how he was left in debt and broken by the woman he loved.
"How can you give a person another chance when she has committed such (acts)?" said Lydia Manalang, translating on behalf of her brother. "She's using different strategies. It's a pattern."
The couple divorced in 2003 when Dela Rea Manalang walked out with her children two months after arriving in Canada, leaving her ex-husband $26,000 in debt after he covered her expenses.
GAVE BIRTH
The deportation order for her and her daughters, now 15 and 17, was issued in June 2004, but the woman moved in with Rouel De Leon just months later. She gave birth to that man's child little more than a year ago.
Her latest appeal was denied late last year and Dela Rea Manalang and her daughters were scheduled to be deported on March 25 on the basis that, according to court documents, her misrepresentations were "serious and at the high end of the spectrum."
According to Dela Rea Manalang's lawyer, the removal was postponed because immigration officials were slow in processing the application for permanent citizenship filed by De Leon -- whom the woman married illegally last April, according to a provincial marriage license.
John Nychek, director of the local citizenship and immigration branch, said spousal-sponsorhip applications are processed regardless of removal orders, but said many factors -- including past transgressions and children -- are taken into account come decision time.
Speaking on behalf of his common-law wife yesterday, De Leon said the family deserves to be kept together in Canada.
"She admitted everything and took all the fault," De Leon said. "They did something wrong and they admit it. But, as a human, they deserve a second chance. They have proven they are not a burden. They have proven they could be a good citizen. Their future -- the future of the children -- is in Canada."
