DEPUTY Speaker Ralph Recto yesterday said the new travel guidelines of the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) will disrupt the Bureau of Immigration’s (BI) vow to process incoming and outgoing travelers “within 45 seconds.”
“Will this create a logjam that will hassle not just travelers, but immigration officers as well? If the processing is as lengthy as a job interview o parang cross-examination na mas marami pang tanong kesa namamanhikan (or like a cross-examination with more questions asked than someone who made a marriage proposal), will the stricter rules cut speed?” Recto asked.
The “gone in 45 seconds” rule is part of the BI’s 2024 budget request of P4.24 billion, a P2.63 billion or 163 percent jump from its P1.61 billion 2023 budget.
For the additional P2.63 billion, one of the biggest budget increases among agencies for next year, BI has vowed to process incoming and outgoing travelers as fast as 45 seconds.
Under budgeting rules and format, an agency’s deliverables, called “Performance Information,” are part of its appropriations request.
To address human trafficking concerns, IACAT recently issued revised guidelines for Filipinos traveling overseas, including proof of financial capacity to visa-free countries, which will be implemented beginning September 3.
Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, a former immigration chief, earlier said the guidelines violate a person’s constitutional right to travel and right to privacy.
He said the “unreasonable” rules and additional requirement would cause inconvenience to Filipino travelers and only subject them to harassment and even extortion by corrupt immigration officers and airport personnel.
Recto said that for 2024, the BI commits to “a primary inspection processing time for 99 percent of entering and exiting passengers.”
“That’s their promissory note to taxpayers: Increase our budget to P4.25 billion and almost all passengers will be gone in 45 seconds,” he said.
Recto however said rising passenger volume plus the lack of airport space to put up more immigration booths slow down passenger processing.
“Revenge travel plus restricted space to accommodate more booths is the formula for long immigration wait times. Sa kaso ng NAIA 1, saan mo nga naman ilalagay ang dagdag na booths? (In the case of NAIA 1, where will you put additional booths?)” he said.
Recto called on the immigration bureau to “better deliver on this pledge because the P2.6 billion increase they are seeking will be for new equipment for, in their own words, ‘the enhancement of border management information system.’”
And whatever that system is, he stressed, “should be able to filter out undesirables like undocumented POGO (Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators) workers and not to establish a Berlin Wall of immigration hurdles to Filipinos going on budget tours to nearby Asian cities.”
Recto said “for clarity of objective,” Congress should insist that the processing time be clocked the moment a passenger lines up and not when he or she is in front of the immigration booth.
“Pwede ka naman talagang ma-proseso in 45 seconds ng immigration officer pero kalahating oras ka naman nakatayo sa pila. Dapat ang nakasulat sa General Appropriations Act kung kelan nagsimula pumila (You can really be processed in 45 seconds by an immigration officer pero you’ll have to stand for half an hour queuing. The time that a person starts falling in line should be written in the GAA),” he said.
Recto said government should plowback to Filipino travelers “the tax they pay for the right to travel and the fees for the use of airports.”
He described NAIA as a “profit center” for all government offices operating there.
