Luz Eslava Dinondon, Petitioner, v. Immigration and Naturalization Service, Respondent, 127 F.3d 1104 (9th Cir. 1997)

MEMORANDUM^* 

Dinondon, a native and citizen of the Philippines, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals' ("BIA") dismissal of her appeal from an Immigration Judge's ("IJ") decision denying asylum and withholding of deportation. Dinondon contends that she fears persecution from a Communist organization known as the New People's Army ("NPA"). We review the BIAs decision for "substantial evidence." Aruta v. INS, 80 F.3d 1389, 1393 (9th Cir. 1996).

Dinondon claims that she qualifies for asylum on the basis of a well-founded fear of persecution on account of her political opinion. The "well-founded fear" standard contains both subjective and objective components, see id. at 1394, only the first of which Dinondon has satisfied. As the record shows, the NPA has little interest in Dinondon: it has never harmed, threatened, or even approached her. The most that the NPA did was extort a portion of her tenant's rice crop, and there is no evidence that the NPA knew that the rice crop belonged to Dinondon. Moreover, Dinondon has failed to establish that any persecution would be on account of her political opinion, as opposed to the NPA's political opinion.

Because Dinondon has failed to present compelling evidence of a well-founded fear of persecution, it necessarily follows that she has not presented enough evidence to meet the higher burden of a "clear probability of persecution" that is required for withholding deportation. Id. at 1396.

The petition for review is DENIED.