Government revises departure protocols

MANILA, Philippines — Immigration procedures are undergoing revisions amid complaints over the stricter implementation of departure protocols, which have been causing outbound travelers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport to miss their flights, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced yesterday.

In a statement, the DOJ said the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) is in the process of revising the departure formalities to “better reflect current trends and plug the gaps that arose along the way.”

The DOJ said travelers expressed concern about the allegedly abusive procedures, wherein questioning by Bureau of Immigration officers takes hours and unnecessary documents such as yearbooks are asked ostensibly as part of anti-human trafficking measures.

The IACAT said it understands the plight of passengers and assured the public that the BI has taken necessary steps to look into inappropriate behavior of immigration officers.

“Rest assured, the abusive behavior which goes beyond the mandate of the immigration officers will not be tolerated and will be strictly dealt with,” the IACAT said. “We are in coordination with the BI and other stakeholders to minimize the inconvenience caused by the departure formalities to Filipino travelers.”

In the past weeks, several Filipino passengers complained on social media about missing their flights or being offloaded due to “excessive” questioning by some BI officers.

The DOJ, however, stressed that BI officers are tasked to protect Filipinos from human trafficking and other dangers.

“The departure formalities are only one of IACAT’s measures to combat human trafficking. It is an integral part of a holistic campaign that involves prevention, protection, prosecution, partnership and policy,” the DOJ said.

The DOJ noted that a recent scheme – recruitment of educated and well-traveled Filipinos who have the financial capacity for travel to work in call centers engaged in online scam – poses a challenge to the implementation of departure formalities.

“The underlying problem here lies in the fact that for these new schemes, it is difficult to distinguish regular passengers from potential victims of human trafficking. The main consideration of the department is not only stopping trafficking per se, but also lessening the victims of this crime,” the DOJ said.

The government implemented the departure formalities after the BI flagged an alarming number of human trafficking victims this year.

From January to February alone, the BI deferred the departure of 6,788 out of 1,056,247 Filipinos who exited international airports.

Of the number, 57 were referred to the IACAT as possible victims of human trafficking.

“The rest were deferred for other reasons such as incomplete, improper or misrepresented documents. Many of them would have also been vulnerable to human trafficking had they been allowed to depart,” the IACAT said.