The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said it will respect the Calderon couple's decision to leave Japan and to be repatriated back home as it assured that it would look after their 13-year old daughter who decided to remain behind.

The DFA has pledged to extend "humanitarian assistance" to Arlan and Sarah Calderon if they decide to be flown back home.

The assistance, he explained, includes services provided by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to help the child adjust, he said.

"The Department of Foreign Affairs respects the decision of the parents and fully appreciates the heavy heart with which they arrived at that difficult decision to leave their daughter in Japan," Foreign Affairs spokesman Ed Malaya said.

"The DFA has instructed the Philippine embassy in Tokyo, Japan to closely monitor and provide assistance to Noriko as needed," he added.

The Calderons were deported because of their irregular status.
 
Their 13-year-old daughter, Noriko who was born in Japan and who speaks only Japanese, said she wants to stay in Japan.
The Japanese Ministry of Justice has given her two options----to go to the Philippines with her parents or to stay in Japan as offered by the Ministry.

A source said the Philippine government couldn't give in to the couple's request to stay in Japan because it would only send a wrong signal to the international community.

The Calderons face deportation because they entered Japan on false passports nearly 17 years ago but they have pleaded to be allowed to stay so their daughter can finish her schooling.