AFTER a video clip of personnel of the Bureau of Immigration-Davao District Office (BI-Davao) allegedly disregarding clients went viral online, the agency said the foreigner they ushered out had been disrespectful and unruly towards the persons in authority.
A social media post, together with the video, claimed that the BI-Davao allegedly instructed its guards to usher out the Russian for asking too many questions after he complained about the high fees on visa extension.
Sittie Rizminh M. Alonto, Alien Control Officer of BI-Davao, said in an interview on Wednesday, April 10, that the incident happened about 3:20 p.m. on March 29 involving a certain Andrey Oleynik, a Russian national who approached the visa extension window to extend his stay as a temporary visitor. When he was informed about the fees, he suddenly got angry and refused to pay for the express lane and demanded the regular lane.
"The assessor explained to him that we don't have a regular lane in our system and we can't change it. Regular lanes are allowed (only) in Manila. He became unruly and demanded to talk to the [me]. I again explained to him that we cannot change the system. I told him that he can write to the Commissioner if he has complaints because BI Davao cannot process the transaction without express lane," Alonto said.
He first agreed to pay the fee but when the assessment of fees was presented to him, Alonto said that Oleynik angrily confronted the assessors and asked why he needs to pay more than what he paid in Iloilo immigration for two months extension.
Alonto said upon verification in their system, it was learned that he was not charged with the ACR Re-issuance, Head Tax, Emigration Clearance Certificate, and the corresponding Express Lane fees when he applied for a visa extension at the Iloilo Immigration Office. The mentioned fees were charged to him in BI-DDO which is the reason why the fees assessed for him is higher compared to how much he paid in BI-Iloilo.
"I told him everything he pays must reflect in the receipts and we, the employees of the district office, have no direct access to the money he pays. He then cursed the government of robbing the foreigners of their money and even accusing the Commissioner of the Bureau of Immigration of pocketing their money," she said.
The confrontation disrupted the operations of the office which prompted Alonto to call the police for fear that Oleynik will resort to violence. It took the police officers at least 30 minutes to convince him to leave the premises.
During their consultation with lawyer Nimfa Edroso, they decided to deny his extension and hoped that it will send a sign and serve as a lesson to other arrogant and unruly foreigners who disrespect the persons in authority.
"Hence, he doesn't deserve our hospitality and should not be allowed to stay longer as a guest in our country," she said, adding that they also submitted a recommendation for him to be blacklisted in the immigration.
"Temporary visitors like him who have shown complete disrespect of the law and to persons in authority must always bear in mind that their stay in the country is not a matter of right but merely a privilege. This respect and obedience to our laws are something that cannot be found to Andrey Oleynik," she added.
On the issue of having a birthday blowout during office hours, she confirmed that there was really a surprise for their fellow employee but during that time it was already past 4 p.m. and there was no longer any transaction since the counter closes at 4 p.m. When they held the celebration, there was only a family left waiting for the release of their documents.
They also did it to distract the foreigner who was persistent and wouldn't accept their explanation.