Comment thread "This is on Philippine Consulate Website in HKG" for Diosdado Macapagal International Airport

The Philippine Consulate General wishes to inform the Filipino community in Hong Kong that, in pursuit of its mandate to primarily detect, monitor and investigate cases of trafficking in persons occurring at the international airports and seaports within the Philippine jurisdiction, as provided for by RA 9208 titled "the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003", the Bureau of Immigration (BI) is enforcing strict departure formalities for outbound Filipino travelers.

In its Memorandum Circular No. RPL-10-004 dated 09 August 2010, the Bureau of Immigration may regulate the individual right to travel whenever there is a reasonable detection of trafficking situation by immigration officers and personnel. For brevity and clarity, a detected Filipino international traveler shall be disallowed to depart on either of of the following categories: 1) undocumented 2) improperly documented 3) incompletely documented.

To determine whether a trafficking situation is occurring, Filipino travelers intending to go a foreign country with temporary visitor/tourist visas are assessed by the immigration officer on the totality of their circumstances, including their personal capacity to travel, such as appearance, demeanor, current employment, financial capability, etc., at the times they present themselves for departure formalities.

In cases where the travel is not shouldered in the traveler's personal capacity, it is usually claimed that it is shouldered by another person. If the visa indicates that there is a sponsor, the relationship or reason for the sponsorship is assessed. If it is readily ascertainable that the sponsor is a relative and it is shown that the sponsor is at the place of destination, the next matter to be assessed is the capacity of the sponsor (e.g., work or employment in the place of destination)

Many Filipino travelers who cannot show either their personal capacity or that of their sponsor to shoulder the costs of the trip often present an authenticated affidavit of support and/or guarantee by their sponsoring relative or friend who are residing or working in the country they are traveling to. The affidavit of support is not necessarily a requirement of the Bureau of Immigration and does not guarantee being cleared for departure because it still has to be assessed by the immigration officer.

In light of these developments, the Philippine Consulate General encourages the Filipino community in Hong Kong to properly advise relatives and friends who want to visit them here of the Bureau of Immigration's departure regulations and undertake the necessary preparations to avoid undue inconvenience

The PNOY Administration and his staff should study the constitution of approved during the term of her mother... Memorandum Circular No. RPL-10-004 dated 09 August 2010, the Bureau of Immigration is totally UNCONSTITUTIONAL.. as this order discriminates other classes of society, for instance those who might have ugly and bad demeanor (like the BI officilas) but have complete travel documents such as financial capability, airline tickets etc... It curtails the Constitutional Rights to Travel, in which PERSONAL DISCRETION OF BI OFFICIALS are suspect to CORRUPTION.. Also, its disrespectful to bilateral relations of other countries (for those with approved visa) or even MULTILATERAL AGREEMENTS between ASEAN countries..

It seems that we need to amend so that we can redefine the 1987 Philippine Constitution on the Right to Travel.. Section 6. ... the right to travel be impaired except in the interest of national security, public safety, or public health, as may be provided by law... should also include And, those with complete travel documents going abroad will be impaired UPON THE PERSONAL DISCRETION OF BI OFFICIALS... NO POLICY NO RULES VERY UNCONSTITUTIONAL.. It seems odd to me.. The Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003 rules and regulations of this law should be examined in light of these blatant grave abuse of discretion of these rude BI Officials who are using this law as an escape goat..

POSSIBLE REMEDY:

As proposed by Binay there should be concrete guidelines on OFFLOADING of Passengers.. example for those going to HK - 1. Determine the amount of money per day; 2. For demeanor that's hard to evaluated since the BI Officials who assess are obviously not trained to determine who has a bad or good demeanor (pls. specify.. e.g. should walk straight, should wear coat and tie, no sandos or polos or slippers.. etc.)

PNOY Officials are one of the WORST... Look at De Lima, she defied the constitution on the TRO by the Supreme Court.. Now this problem on the right to travel again.. OMG are we going rock bottom again! Paging Commissioner David!