The Philippines deported a Japanese man Friday who had been given a presidential pardon earlier this year after spending more than 16 years behind bars for drug-trafficking.
Hideshi Suzuki, 54, was flown out on a Philippine Airlines flight to Nagoya a day after the Bureau of Immigration released his deportation order and in compliance with conditions set April 26 when then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo granted the pardon.
Among the conditions was payment of a 1 million peso (about ¥1.9 million) fine.
"Of course, I'm very happy. I want to meet my mother and my friend and some people who supported me these 16 years," Suzuki said in an interview at the immigration jail hours before his flight.
"I want to eat Japanese cold noodles, "zaru" soba, and take a public bath," he added.
Suzuki was convicted and sentenced to death in 1995 for possession of 1.5 kg of marijuana at the Bacolod City airport in the central Philippines.
The Supreme Court commuted the sentence to life in prison on appeal.
Suzuki again asserted his innocence, maintaining he was set up after negotiations with a Japanese acquaintance in the Philippines who owed him money turned sour.
"I still don't know where I will live because it depends on my job," Suzuki said.
He said he would look for a job after returning to Japan.
His Filipino wife and their 8-year-old son are accompanying him to Japan.
"I have a good feeling about the Philippines. Yes, I really like the Philippines," Suzuki said, adding he still wants to return to Manila even if the government automatically blacklists him upon his deportation.