THE Bureau of Immigration (BI) apologized to a Dabawenya traveler, who missed her flight abroad after she was delayed by "irrelevant" questions from an immigration officer.
In a statement issued on Friday, March 17, BI "apologized for the inconvenience" that the incident caused to her and other Filipino passengers.
Lifestyle blogger Cham Tanteras shared in a TikTok video on March 1 about her experience during an exit interview with an immigration officer at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), who stopped her from flying to Israel in December 2022.
According to her, she arrived at NAIA at 3 a.m. for her flight scheduled at 11 a.m. to avoid heavy traffic and lined up at the immigration around 6 a.m., where she was asked usual questions such as her recent trips and purpose of travel.
Tanteras shared that she was then brought to the immigration office at Terminal 1 where she was interviewed by an immigration officer who "kept on asking [her] irrelevant questions."
"Number one, if my parents were separated or together. Number two, if I have my yearbook with me. I told the officer, 'Hey, I graduated college ten years ago, why would I even bring a yearbook in my travel?'" she said.
The traveler also claimed the officers rummaged through her email and documents and even asked her to "write an essay" about her freelancing job.
The immigration officer allowed her to go only to find out that the gate to her flight was already closed. Tanteras said she booked another flight, which cost her more.
BI said they immediately investigated the incident after the video went viral.
"[The management] asked the immigration officer involved for a full report on the incident," the bureau said.
Tanteras was eventually allowed to travel after filling out the Border Control Questionnaire and undergoing secondary inspection.
Issue of human trafficking
BI said that their tight screening is part of their effort to combat the cases of human trafficking and illegal recruitment, which they said is "real" and "happening every day."
They are asking for the public's understanding and consideration for they are tasked to implement strict measures to assess departing passengers.
The agency said they noted numerous "young urban professionals" that have "good travel records, gainfully employed, and are graduates of good school" are victimized by cryptocurrency scam syndicate that transports them to Myanmar and other Asian countries. RGL
"Victims have been promised a salary of 1,000 USD per month, but were forced to scam Westerners. If unable to reach their quota, they were subjected to corporal punishment," BI said.
In addition, the agency reported a total of 32,404 Filipinos were deferred departure and 472 of which have been found to be victims of human trafficking or illegal recruitment in 2022.
The figure also includes 873 who misrepresented themselves, or presented fraudulent documents, while 10 have been discovered to be either underaged or monitored, attempting to leave and work abroad.
The bureau said President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. himself is alarmed by the rising cases of trafficking victims.
BI, meanwhile, reminded its personnel to conduct their inspections professionally, and in an efficient manner to avoid similar incidents of delays in the future. RGL