Days after a traveler bound for Israel missed her flight due to alleged incessant questioning by a Bureau of Immigration official at the Ninoy International Airport Terminal 1, many outbound passengers reportedly bring their academic transcripts to avoid getting offloaded.
Very recently, an ABS-CBN report featured Filipinos bringing their college diploma just in case BI official ask additional documents, just like what happened with Cham Tanteras, the traveler who made the headline after missing her flight to Israel due to incessant questioning by an immigration officer.
Others show concern that if a traveler brings a diploma to the country of destination, they might deny entry, assuming that they’re looking for employment.
“Hayyy only in philippines….thats why we are not progressing because all of these they had a lot of question and requirements that we need to subbmit like my cousin they hired direct hirect but sad to say they had a lot of req.they asking for legal my God did they give her visa if shes illegal common sense,” one netizen commented on a recent post by The Global Filipino Magazine.
“We planned to go home since we were not able to do so coz of d pandemic,but d immigration have so many requiremets.needs school credentials,bank statement of salary etc.magbbkadyon po kmi at di mag aaply ng work sa pinas,at di rin kmi magloloan,” another frustrated traveler commented.
In the same post, a mother shared how her daughter’s experience in December.
“I just have to share what my daughter experienced on December 23 with the immigration officer. They almost keep her there till she cries and beg. We just want to spend Christmas with each other,” she recounted.
Another Facebook user recalled being offloaded a few years ago despite having a tourist visa and the sponsor was a citizen of her destination country.
“Kaloka kayo PH immigration. Yearbook? For Pete’s sake,” she added in frustration.
Some even compared the immigration officials in the Philippines to different countries.
“Gosh! I’ve been on few airports hnd nmn ganyan ka lala. I thought Germany was the strictest IO I’ve ever encounter(ask lang kung when ang balik, what’s the purpose of the visit). Really only in the Philippines. Nakaka-takot nmn umuwi ng Pinas baka hnd ako makabalik ng US,” she said.
Non-Filipino and businessman in Dubai Mr. Vijay Bhatia said that the incident in NAIA is ‘sad and shameful’.
“People should have the right to travel,” he said.
He hopes the current president does something compared to his predecessors.
Last March 15, The Global Filipino Magazine shares another #TGFMAsks entry on Facebook and Instagram, asking about their ‘immigration’ story. Below are their responses.
