Philippine Immigration

Immigration officers at the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) barred from entering the country during the first semester 37 foreigners who attempted to slip into the country with bogus travel documents via the former US air base in Clark Field, Pampanga.

Bureau of Immigration (BI) Commissioner Marcelino Libanan said covering from the period of January to June, the 37 aliens were turned back as a result of the increased vigilance of immigration personnel at the DMIA who were alerted over reports that human trafficking syndicates are intending to use Clark as the next transit point for their operations.
The reports had also indicated that illegal recruitment syndicates were trying to use the Clark airport in facilitating the departure of “tourist workers,” or undocumented overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) disguised as tourists.

Libanan said he was alarmed by the reports that ordered the immediate deployment of additional personnel to the DMIA and that screening procedures for both arriving and departing passengers be tightened.

Earlier, the BI chief bared that some 864 passengers suspected of being “tourist workers” were barred from leaving Clark from January to May on suspicion of being “tourist workers.”

In his report to Libanan, Romeo Dime, DMIA immigration head supervisor Romeo Dime said most of the excluded foreigners were caught using spurious documents in trying to enter the country.

Dime said most of the passengers arrived from Malaysia and their travel itinerary showed that they intended to proceed to other foreign destinations after a brief stay in the country.

“They were unable to explain their purpose in coming to the Philippines for which reason they were denied entry and booked on the first available flight to their port of origin,” Dime said.

All of them were placed in the BI blacklist of undesirable foreigners and banned from re-entering the Philippines.

Those excluded include seven Indians, six Nigerians, four Bulgarians, three Sri Lankans, three Taiwanese, two Koreans, two Singaporeans, a Sudanese, a Japanese, a Malaysian, a Botswanan, a Liberian, and an Albanian. (BI News)