A FILIPINO couple, who lived in Japan for the last 16 years as illegal aliens, or tago ng tago (TNT), were deported to the country on Monday night, leaving their only daughter in the care of relatives.

Arlan Calderon and his wife Sarah, both in their late 30s, were found guilty of overstaying and are now back at 713 C. Fajardo Street, Tondo, Manila, their listed residence. The couple said they would be looking for a job to tide them over until they could reapply for a visitor’s visa to see their daughter in Japan again.

Arlan said they were not blacklisted.

Their only child, Noriko, 13, is in second-year junior high school in Saitama Prefecture, where they used to reside.

Noriko, who speak Japanese only, was left in the care of Sarah’s sister, who is married to a Japanese businessman. She is allowed to stay in Japan on a special-residence visa.

“One day, three Japanese policemen came to our house to tell us that we’re being arrested and questioned for overstaying,” Arlan said in Pilipino.

Having been away too long, the couple seemed ill at ease talking in the vernacular and found it easier talking with Japanese reporters. They simply ignored the local television reporters who asked questions in Tagalog and English.

Arlan does not only speak Japanese fluently, but also has the looks of a Japanese, with slant eyes and fair complexion.

Calderon did not give details on how they were found out by Japanese authorities, but totally discounted the possibility that they were exposed by fellow Filipinos.

“Nobody snitched on us,” he said, and attributed their discovery to the efficiency of the Japanese authorities.

The couple came to Japan in 1993 where she initially engaged in selling various merchandise with the help of relatives, while he worked in a construction company as a demolition hand.

He said his daughter refused to learn Pilipino.

“We tried to teach her her own language but she would have none of it because all of her friends and classmates are Japanese,” Calderon said.