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00:00.0
The Bureau of Immigration drew flak after a social media user aired her frustration online
00:05.7
about her unpleasant experience with an immigration personnel.
00:09.6
In a TikTok video, the woman said she was asked numerous questions
00:13.8
which she deemed irrelevant and caused her to miss her flight.
00:17.9
The Bureau now appealing for understanding in its implementation of strict airport protocols.
00:22.2
Let's talk to its spokesperson, Ms. Dana Sandoval.
00:25.5
Good morning and thanks for joining us again, Dana.
00:27.9
Good morning, Stanley. Good morning.
00:30.0
Let's first talk about the offloading incident at Naia where a passenger was asked to provide
00:34.7
a yearbook photo to prove some form of educational attainment.
00:39.2
A yearbook photo, I mean, really, was this required?
00:43.3
Well, definitely asking for a yearbook photo is not part of the questions of our immigration
00:48.6
officers. This got the management's attention because while the procedure of undergoing
00:54.3
secondary inspection is really part of the immigration officer's duties,
01:00.2
asking such questions that might not really be helpful in knowing the background of the person,
01:09.3
it's a cause for concern of the management. It's really the manner on how the secondary
01:14.5
inspection was conducted that we might see as a cause for concern here.
01:20.2
And what did the personnel wanted to prove at this point for this specific case?
01:24.7
By asking for a yearbook photo?
01:27.1
Yes. Well, when we asked the immigration officer involved, he denied asking for a yearbook photo,
01:34.0
but perhaps he was interested in knowing the background of the person who went viral.
01:43.0
But definitely, this is not part of the regular questions of immigration officers.
01:49.1
All right. Now, this incident caught attention on social media, Ms. Sandoval.
01:53.0
What is the Bureau of Immigration doing now to address this incident? And please tell us
01:57.6
what your investigation has found out so far. Have there been lapses?
02:02.6
Yes. Well, we encourage feedback. We really appreciate feedback. And if there are anything
02:12.6
concerning travelers, if you see something not nice, or actions that you might think
02:18.2
that are unprofessional, we encourage passengers to immediately report it to the
02:24.3
Bureau of Immigration. For this specific case, Stanley, the immigration officer involved was
02:29.2
reassigned to one of our back-end offices and was removed from the front lines.
02:35.3
All right. Have you reached out to the complainant? And what did she have to say?
02:40.6
From what I recall, she submitted a complaint via one of our social media portals, but that
02:47.0
complaint is being processed already by our offices. All right. Now, we know that the Bureau
02:55.0
is, of course, stepping up its campaign against human trafficking and even illegal overseas
02:59.4
employment, which is probably why processes at the airport have been stricter. But there are other
03:05.8
ways of doing this than our current processes, which is making passengers miss their flights
03:10.8
and inconvenience a lot of people as they are offloaded. Are there proposals to at least
03:17.4
change a little of these processes to be more considerate? Yes, definitely. We have initiated
03:25.6
a review of the procedures at the airport for those undergoing secondary inspection.
03:33.0
We have been following a department order from the Department of Justice. It's the Memorandum
03:40.2
Circular No. 36, if I'm not mistaken, which serves as the guide of our immigration officers
03:46.6
on how to conduct the secondary inspection. So we have initiated a review of this. Perhaps there
03:52.5
are some matters that needs to be updated or reconsidered following the latest developments
04:01.1
in trafficking and human trafficking. All right. Speaking of human trafficking,
04:05.7
let's shift now to crypto scam trafficking. What are the inroads made by the Bureau of
04:10.8
Immigration as regards to this campaign? Well, this human trafficking, this crypto
04:17.4
scam trafficking is really still here. Stanley, it's something that we see every day. It seems
04:24.6
like it's not stopping. So we have shifted maybe our focus in the manner that we deliver our
04:32.1
reminders or our warnings to those who are interested to go abroad. We have tried to
04:39.6
go to where they are receiving these informations, which is in social media via TikTok,
04:46.2
via Facebook. We have coordinated with several social media platforms to discuss ways on how to
04:53.8
combat these illegal scammers that try to entice our kababayan to work abroad with such
05:05.5
good offers, double the salary, so many incentives. It's really tempting, to be honest.
05:13.1
It's really tempting for victims when they see these offers. So what we did is, apart from our
05:21.8
strict border management, we tried to send out the information in the channels
05:27.0
that these scammers are using and abusing to be able to counter the misinformation,
05:34.6
the disinformation that they are sending. All right. Lastly, this is travel season
05:39.4
anew with many of our kababayans flying overseas for vacations. What improvements can they expect
05:44.3
to see at the airport in terms of maybe speed or efficiency of the processes there? And what is
05:50.3
your advice to the traveling public? Yes, soon we will be launching the e-departure
05:57.1
cards. So instead of the usual paper-based departure cards that passengers are required
06:03.4
to fill out, they would be going to a website similar to the e-arrival platform where they
06:11.1
would just fill out the details prior to their departure. So it's really, it might seem very
06:17.3
small, but for those who are traveling in big groups, it's really a big burden that is being
06:22.6
taken off. It's really hard to fill out so many forms for the entire family. So it's one thing
06:28.5
that we have initiated to really help the public, to really ease the burden of the public, especially
06:37.0
now during this season when there are a lot of travelers and they say revenge travel is real.
06:44.3
And we are expecting a lot more passengers for the next few weeks. And when is the
06:49.8
e-departure card online supposed to begin? Definitely within the month. We are expecting
06:57.6
it to be launched this month, ready for the peak season. And in terms of our personnel,
07:06.1
we have beefed up our personnel. All counters are fully manned. We have maximized our personnel.
07:12.1
And we have also talked to the airport authorities on the expansion of the immigration
07:17.9
area in Naia Terminal 3, which is really perhaps the most congested maybe because it caters to
07:27.4
most of the flights in and out of the country. So it would be a big help if we will be able to
07:33.7
add more immigration counters, to be able to add more immigration officers there. All right. On
07:39.3
that note, we thank you so much for joining us, Ms. Dana Sandoval, spokesperson of Philippine
07:43.2
Immigration Bureau. Good morning. Thank you. Good morning.
