THE Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) has urged the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) to review the 2023 Interagency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) revised guidelines on departure requirements for Filipino passengers traveling abroad to ensure that Filipino travelers are not “unnecessarily burdened” with additional documentary requirements.
In the Senate, days before the Bureau of Immigration (BI) is to roll out the controversial new departure guidelines for travelers, senators upped the ante on Wednesday and threatened to carve out from the BI’s 2024 budget a special fund to reimburse over 30,000 Filipinos wrongly offloaded by BI in past years.
Subsequently, the senators also adopted a resolution urging relevant agencies to suspend enforcement of the IACAT guidelines.
They also approved a motion by Minority Leader Koko Pimentel for senators, led by Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri, to file a separate petition—“if court intervention is still necessary”—to stop the rollout of the IACAT guidelines “for being unconstitutional.”
Sen. Chiz Escudero made the suggestion to make the BI repay those wrongfully offloaded for their expenses, as he and several others made manifestations following a strongly worded privileged speech by Zubiri on Wednesday, supporting his colleagues’ serious concerns over the rules to be enforced starting September 3.
In his speech, Zubiri cited data showing the BI in recent years had offloaded 32,404 outbound travelers for various reasons—a huge number he compared to Thailand’s less than 400 people barred from departing.
Manifesting strong support for Zubiri’s speech, Majority Leader Joel Villanueva said that of the 32,404 who were offloaded, the BI’s data showed only 472 were found to be victims of human trafficking. This indicated, he said, that the blanket, arbitrary bans on departures imposed by BI barely dented the human trafficking syndicates.
What happens, Villanueva asked, to the 98 percent who were wrongly offloaded?
Reacting to this, Escudero made his pitch to compel BI to reimburse the wrongly offloaded persons. “Let it hurt them so that they will learn their lessons, and exercise their discretion better.” Escudero said the reimbursement fund can be inserted as a “special provision in the 2024 budget” of the agency when the Senate deliberates on this.
Zubiri promised to support Escudero’s proposal.
Earlier, Sen. Grace Poe strongly urged the BI to defer implementation of the new rules until this is reviewed; and Sen. Nancy Binay, chair of the Tourism committee, denounced the new IACAT rules as too arbitrary, infringing on the constitutional right to travel, without necessarily stopping human trafficking.
MAP writes ARTA
IN a letter to ARTA Secretary Ernesto Perez, dated August 30, 2023 and signed by MAP President Benedicta Du-Baladad and MAP Ease of Doing Business Committee Chair Ruy Y. Moreno, the MAP said, “Per newspaper reports, we wish to draw your attention to the August 22,2023 Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking [IACAT] revised guidelines on departure requirements for Filipino passengers traveling abroad.”
For one, MAP stressed that under self-funded travels where proof of employment and/or financial capacity is required, the business group questioned this requirement as retired persons cannot present proof of employment. It said, “What document then will BI require?”
For financial capacity, MAP raised the same question as to what the BI will require since the income tax return under the law is confidential. And there have been concerns in some quarters that compelling travelers to show bank certifications might expose them to possible rogue officers who could shake them down or point them out to criminal gangs.
“Bank certification? Notarized? Not notarized? ITR? But ITR under law is confidential,” the business group said.
Meanwhile, for first-time traveler’s documentary requirements, MAP indicated the need to specify which types of requirements BI should require.
“Some companies, as part of team building, bring their employees overseas for meetings and/or study tours. What about the first-time traveler who is a member of the group? What documentary requirement will BI require? Employment-employee and company? SEC registration of company?” MAP asked.
MAP also questioned the definition of “seasoned traveler” in the guidelines, which only stated that, “A seasoned traveler has to show only the basic documents, i.e., valid passport, visa [as applicable], boarding pass, return or roundtrip ticket.”
In relation to this, MAP raised its concern, “What is the criteria to qualify as a seasoned traveler? For example, if one has previously traveled but has not done so for the past 5 or 6 years, does the traveler continue to qualify as a seasoned traveler? And how does the traveler prove such?”
Moreover, the business group pointed out that the guideline on financial capacity is a “vague term” open to interpretation which it said could lead to extortion.
“Thus, no ‘amount’ should be reflected in the document that ideally should be issued by a reputable financial institution that will state ‘that the person is of sound financial standing,” MAP stressed.
MAP stressed that “good regulations” must not leave room for subjective interpretation.