NBI urged to probe alleged anomalies at BI field office

MABALACAT, Pampanga — The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has been urged to look deeper into allegations that anomalous transactions at the field office of the Bureau of Immigration (BI) here has been depriving the government of at least P500,000 in fees collected from foreign tourists in Angeles City every month.

Reliable sources from the BI field office in Barangay Lakandula here showed The STAR documents indicating that its personnel have been processing "express" visa waiver and visa extension applications of an average of 1,000 foreign tourists every month without allegedly collecting the required P500 express fee.

Overstaying foreigners, who are supposed to pay a penalty fee of P500 for every month beyond their approved stay in the country, are also allegedly not being charged, the sources said.

"Instead, they charge each tourist P300 for express services without issuing any receipt and making it appear that it was a special favor to spare them from the trouble of going to the BI office in Manila," said one of the sources, who asked not to be named pending the filing of a formal complaint with the NBI.

Foreign tourists who exceed their maximum stay of 21 days in the country without visa or those who want to extend their 59-day visa may avail themselves of express service in the processing of their documents within one day. Otherwise, processing takes several days.

Unremitted fees

This means that with an average of 400 tourists seeking visa waiver and another 600 tourists seeking visa extension monthly at the BI field office here, the government has allegedly been losing some P500,000 a month in express fees. One of the sources claimed that even the P300 fees paid without receipts are not remitted to the government.

The sources alleged that the anomalies surfaced since Rodelio Siapian was named chief of the BI field office.

But in an interview, Siapian denied the allegations, saying they were fabrications of two contractual personnel who had been terminated.

"It’s a mere case of sour-graping," he said.

Siapian said his office has been issuing official receipts for all fees paid for visa waiver and visa extension. Apart from the receipts, the fees paid are also reflected on the application documents, he added.

But documents obtained by The STAR from the sources show that fees supposed to be collected from tourists availing themselves of the express service are not reflected on the papers.

One such case involves British tourist Neil Kennedy who arrived in the country last May 18 and whose allowable stay without visa was to expire last June 8. He applied for a visa waiver last June 6, or two days before the deadline, and got it on the same day, although his documents do not reflect any payment of the P500 express service fee.

The same situation exists in the cases of American vacationer Billy Turner who applied for and got his visa extension last June 3, and Briton Lewis Reed and Dutch Adrianus Boer who both got their visa extension on June 3, the same day they applied for it.

Sources alleged that last week, an official of the BI field office ordered an unofficial listing of tourists who had paid P300 each for the express service without receipts be destroyed amid reports that some personnel were out to expose the alleged anomalies.

No closed-door meetings

On allegations that overstaying tourists were being invited to closed-door meetings inside Siapian’s office after which their papers were processed, the BI field office chief said, "I would not be able to even do my work if I did that."

He said tourists who transact business with the field office stay in the guests’ area far from his office.

"I have submitted to the central office the accomplishments of my office last May, indicating it had processed 181,000 documents and earned some P1,383,000 from collections," he said.

The sources said hundreds of foreign tourists in Central Luzon are found mostly in the Angeles City area. They include mostly Americans, Canadians, Australians, Britons, New Zealanders, Germans and Koreans.

The sources also cited nagging reports that BI personnel at the Clark special economic zone have allegedly been collecting an unauthorized fee of P1,000 for the fingerprinting of foreign expatriates renewing their working visas.

But the sources said many tourists merely course their applications for visa renewal through travel agencies. "These agencies charge more fees on top of the P300 without receipt imposed by the BI field office," said another source whose wife is a foreigner.

Apart from the P500 fee required for express processing, tourists extending their stay in the country also pay P1,000 for alien certificate of registration, P700 for exit clearance certificate, P300 application fee, P250 head tax, and P20 legal research fee.