Senate President Francis Escudero asked the incoming Immigration Commissioner to rush the reimbursement of the expenses incurred by thousands of passengers who missed their flights due to “unnecessary” delays caused by the agency’s pre-departure procedures.
“‘Ber’ months na, pero ni isang kusing wala pa ring nabayaran sa kahit isang paseherong naperwisyo. Ang bilis mag-offload, ang bagal naman mag-download ng reimbursement,” said Escudero.
The senator from Sorsogon introduced a special provision in the 2024 General Appropriations Act (GAA) mandating the reimbursement of passengers who were not allowed to proceed with their flights due to lengthy interrogation by immigration personnel for one reason or another.
The funds will be drawn from the unutilized collections of the Bureau of Immigration (BI) that are returned to the Bureau of Treasury.
Despite “clear instructions” of the GAA, Escudero said agencies involved in its implementation seem to be sluggish in their response to this matter.
“Hanggang ngayon wala pang guidelines,”he added.
In 2022, a total of 32,404 Filipino passengers were not allowed to board their flights. Out of the total, only 472 were found to be victims of human trafficking or illegal recruitment.
“The almost 32,000 offloaded passengers could fill 177 narrow-body Airbus jets. Sa dinami-dami ng pinerwisyo niyo dahil sa hinalang biktima sila ng human trafficking, kakarampot lang ang lumalabas na totoong may kaso. There’s something wrong with this picture,” the Senate leader said.IMT
