Philippine Immigration

MORE than 850 passengers at the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) in Pampanga were barred from leaving the country on suspicion of being “tourist workers,” the Bureau of Immigration said on Saturday.

According to a report received by Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan, 864 passengers were offloaded for lacking required clearances from the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA).

Immigration Regional Director Romeo Dime said the offloaded passengers had failed to secure the POEA clearances although their purpose for leaving was to work abroad.

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By William B. Depasupil, Reporter

THE newly-formed antihuman smuggling panel of the Department of Justice failed to get a convincing answer from the Bureau of Immigration on the huge disparity between the number of entry visas issued and actual arrival of visa holders.

During Wednesday’s first fact-finding probe of the panel, the Immigration Regulation Division’s chief, lawyer Gary Mendoza, explained the discrepancy may have been caused by the incomplete records supplied to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) by the Philippine Embassy in India.

Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez ordered the probe in response to a letter from Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan, after bureau records showed a discrepancy of 4,843 between the number of entry visas issued by the Foreign Affairs department and the actual arrival of visa holders from June 2005 to June 2007.

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CEBU CITY: The Bureau of Immigration region 7 is renewing its drive against human trafficking to lessen, if not eradicate, the increasing number of undocumented overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), who are suffering abroad, reported the Philippine News Agency.

The bureau’s region 7 Director Reynaldo Almaden said his office has the power to stop passengers from leaving if there is a hold-departure order from the court, if he or she is in the watch list, or if he or she is a threat to national security.

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