Galapon

MEMORANDUM **

Nelson Manuel Galapon, a native and citizen of the Philippines, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) dismissal of his appeal from an Immigration Judge’s denial of his application for asylum and withholding of removal. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1252 , and we deny the petition for review. See Lata v. INS, 204 F.3d 1241, 1244 (9th Cir.2000) (“[T]he IJ’s determination that an alien is not eligible for asylum must be upheld if supported by reasonable, substantial, and probative evidence in the record.”).

Substantial evidence supports the BIA’s conclusion that Galapon did not demonstrate past persecution. The New People’s Army recruiters threatened him several times and he was once “slapped ... hard.” These circumstances do not rise to the level of past persecution. See Lim v. INS, 224 F.3d 929, 936 (9th Cir.2000) (only in “certain extreme cases [have we] held that repeated and especially menacing death threats can constitute a primary part of a past persecution claim”).

Addressing Galapon’s well-founded fear of persecution, the BIA concluded that Galapon can live safely elsewhere in the Philippines. Substantial evidence…