Bureau of Immigration: Taylor Kitsch was never in Phl

MANILA, Philippines - Canadian actor Taylor Kitsch was never in the Philippines, a Bureau of Immigration (BI) official said yesterday.

In a statement, BI spokesperson Ma. Antonette Mangrobang said the bureau never issued an alien certificate of registration-identity card (ACR i-Card) to the 30-year-old Kitsch.

During an interview with talk show host David Letterman, Kitsch claimed he was given rough treatment by a customs or immigration employee when he arrived at the airport. He said he told the employee he had a working visa.

When Letterman commented that Kitsch was “promoting and at the same time making a film in the Philippines,” the actor replied, “Oh, yeah.”

Mangrobang also confirmed Customs Commissioner Rufino Biazon’s statement that there is no record of a Taylor Kitsch arriving in the country. “We also checked the flight manifests of all airlines from Japan to Manila and it all yielded negative results,” she said.

Mangrobang also said the bureau conduct its own investigation of Kitsch’s claim that he was maltreated by the employee, who told him he had to return to Japan because his passport ran out of pages. The employee also allegedly asked if the actor would give him an iPhone. 

“We will also extract the footages from closed-circuit television cameras at the airport to check if indeed he arrived and was processed in our immigration counters,” Mangrobang added.

Biazon said no permits were given for the location shooting of the film “Savages,” directed by Oliver stone, contrary to the actor’s claim that he was in the country for the shooting.

He said he found out that some scenes in the film were recently shot in Indonesia. – Evelyn Macairan, Rudy Santos