By Beting Laygo Dolor, Contributing Editor
The Department of Justice suspended the new travel rules which were supposed to be implemented starting this week following numerous complaints from various sectors.
Among others, the tough new laws were called unconstitutional for blocking a citizen’s right to travel.
Among the first to praise the Bureau of Immigration’s (BI) suspension of the stricter travel rules was Rep. Rufus Rodriguez. He, however, insisted that Immigration scrap the suspended rules completely.
The BI had issued the new order last month, with the stricter rules set to take effect the first week of this month. The bureau said the tighter rules were necessary in order to stop Filipinos from falling prey to human traffickers, who usually recruit mostly young women and men with promises of high paying jobs abroad.
Often, there are no work contracts offered and hundreds, perhaps thousands of Filipinos landed in places like Laos and Burma, where they are made to work in companies involved in online scams.
Rodriguez praised Justice Sec. Jesus Crispin Remulla, who the lawmaker said, “is a good lawyer (who) knows the implications of the additional regulations on the right to travel and the right to privacy.”
The new rules were originally proposed by the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking, which is headed by the Justice department. They were set to be imposed on September 3.
The BI was slammed for its various actions vis-à-vis first-time travelers. In one incident, a would-be tourist was questioned for an extended period, and was even asked to show her high school or college yearbook to prove her identity.
As a result of the lengthy questioning, the person missed her flight.
This has been a common complaint lately, with even regular business travelers complaining of the BI’s slow processing at the country’s airports. This has led to accusations that Immigration officers are only asking for grease money to speed up the process.
Rodriguez previously served as Immigration commissioner during the Estrada administration. He was among the first to oppose the imposition of new travel requirements as well as giving BI officers wider discretion to determine the qualifications and purpose of departing passengers.
But the BI said last week that the new rules would only affect around 10 percent of travelers.
The Travel industry asked who would be legally liable for passengers missing their flights, as this would involve huge expenses in terms of re-booking flights, extended hotel stays, and multiple incidental expenses.
The BI only apologized to those inconvenienced but said it did not have the budget to pay for the additional expenses caused by their sanctioned delays.
In another case that went viral a few months ago, a child’s toy plane was intentionally broken by a BI officer, who said he was only making sure that the toy did not contain drugs. It didn’t.
The airline later gave the boy a new toy plane, one which was left untouched by Immigration personnel.
The BI has taken a black eye in recent years because a number of its officers have been caught engaged in dubious activity.
In one instance, an exiting foreigner’s extra cash was pilfered by a BI officer but her act was caught on camera. That officer was relieved of her post.
The worst case involving BI personnel was the so-called “pastillas” scam during the Duterte regime, where mostly Chinese travelers gave money to BI personnel wrapped as candy to skip inspection of their passports. The Chinese were found to end up working in POGOs, or Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators, some of which have been found to be engaged in reverse human trafficking. Like Filipinos trapped in questionable jobs abroad, they work as virtual slaves in the Philippines where they are made to sell bitcoin or even offer online romantic interludes.
