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MANILA, PHILIPPINES – It is not “within” the Immigration Bureau (BI) to pay damages to Filipino travelers who miss their flight due to lengthy immigration, said BI spokesman Dana Sandoval. said on Tuesday, March 21.
A few weeks after Filipino traveler Cham Tanteras posted a TikTok video describing her experience with an immigration officer on her December 2022 trip, BI followed the way the immigration officer treated her. We are seeking monetary damages and accountability.
“BI management takes reports and complaints seriously. Damages may not be within the scope of BI, but disciplinary action can be initiated if an officer is found to be in breach of duty. There is a possibility,” Sandoval said in a message to Rappler.
On her TikTok, Tanteras said an officer informed her that she would have to undergo a second interview in another room after answering questions at the immigration counter. We asked further about the purpose of her trip to Israel and what she described as “irrelevant” questions, such as whether she had a yearbook and graduation photo, and her parents’ marital status.
Tanteras said she missed her 11am flight due to lengthy questioning by BI officials, even though she was in line for immigration around 7am. His first ticket cost him 19,000 pesos because he missed his flight.
This time, I was able to fly to Israel the next day, December 22nd, after purchasing an airline ticket for 27,000 pesos.
She has not yet received compensation for missing her flight and for the inconvenience she experienced. Tanteras said in her CNN Philippines interview on Tuesday that she had raised the issue with the Bureau of Anti-Bureaucracy.
Sandoval was also confirmed on the same CNN Philippines origin According to Tuesday’s episode, the immigration officer who conducted Tanteras’ second interview has been released from his post due to the incident and reassigned to the back-end office. denied that.
Sandoval said an investigation into the incident involving Tanteras was ongoing and that it was a “priority”.
At the time of posting, Sandoval has yet to respond as to why the payment of damages was outside the scope of BI.
Balancing anti-trafficking
On Thursday, March 16th, BI issued an official apology for the incident.
“We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause our Filipino passengers and other Filipino passengers…the problem of human trafficking and illegal recruitment is real and happens every day,” BI said.
In a statement, BI went on to explain the growing number of cases of human trafficking involving Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) forced to work in cryptocurrency scams in Southeast Asia.
On Tuesday, Sandoval also said BI is reviewing its processes to look at ways to improve the conduct of secondary inspections.
“We are also beginning retraining to improve how immigration officers and immigration supervisors handle situations and handle traveler issues and concerns,” she said in an interview with CNN Philippines. rice field.
Sandoval added in another correspondence with Rappler: It is important that the officer can communicate and articulate the reasons behind the interview to the passenger. ”
Know the ‘normal’ questions, actions
In an interview with CNN Philippines, Sandoval said some of the questions the officers asked were unusual, such as the almanac and the marital status of the passengers’ parents. The question was also “unusual”.
Immigration officers are also not allowed to take a passenger’s mobile phone or gadget without their consent. Tanteras said the officer “grabbed” her phone during the interview, but Sandoval said the footage is stored for 30 days, so he will confirm if the officer actually stole her phone. Because of this, the office’s security camera footage may no longer be available, he said. .
Sandoval also advised passengers to arrive three hours before their flight. “You don’t have to bring a yearbook,” she said.
“If you are a legitimate traveler and you are going on vacation, don’t worry. because I’m a victim of,” she added.
Tanteras said she understands immigration officers are trying to protect themselves, but wondered how passengers like her would be protected if they acted like this. rice field.
“I also know that’s part of their protocol and their way of protecting me from human trafficking and fraud. We fully understand that. But my question is: How much will it cost us? If they plan to offload us or in my case I [wasn’t] I missed my flight because it was off-roaded.What kind of protection do I have from them?” she said origin.
“with this [matter], I went viral. But what about others? What is their plan of action to change this process?” she added.
A report on cryptocurrency scam fraudulent transactions taken up in the Senate claims victims easily bypassed immigration by paying personnel up to P20,000. – Rappler.com
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