Despite the Department of Justice's (DOJ) decision to suspend the implementation of stricter travel guidelines, the Senate will still push through with its plan to conduct a hearing on the issue, Senate President Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri said on Thursday, August 31.

Senate President Juan Miguel “Migz” F. Zubiri hails the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) decision to suspend the implementation of what he describes as “prohibitive” new travel guidelines set by the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT), during a press conference on Thursday, August 31, 2023. (Senate PRIB Photo)

“We thank them for the suspension because they’re supposed to implement it already on September 3, Sunday. So they will suspend it but at the same time, they have to explain to us how did they come up with the guidelines. What was their basis for coming up with these kind of guidelines?” Zubiri said in a press briefing at the Senate.

While the Senate recognizes the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking's (IACAT) efforts to combat human trafficking, Zubiri said authorities do not have to resort to “economic profiling” which will essentially happen should the IACAT pushes through with the implementation of its new travel guidelines.

“Because there would be a secondary screening for some of the travelers whom they will subject to questioning. And these secondary screening will be done in private rooms. And what if they just agree to settle it in cash? It will be another layer of possible corruption,” the Senate leader pointed out.

And that is why, Zubiri said he supports Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero’s suggestion for the Bureau of Immigration (BI) to reimburse all the expenses of any passenger whom they would offload.

“If BI will offload a passenger, that should be charged to their account,” he said.

“The BI has been collecting fees and that’s already in the hundreds of millions worth of BI funding. Doing this would make the BI more careful who to offload,” he said.

Zubiri reiterated “it’s not fair” especially to a family of five who are going to Hong Kong for a vacation and have already spent hundred thousands worth of money for their well-deserved vacation only to be offloaded or rejected by the immigration officials.

“What do you say to them? Just sorry? That isn’t acceptable for us in the Senate. The government should not agree to that,” he said.

“So we need to still continue with the hearing to find out and discuss these issues. Because if we do not discuss these in the hearing, we won’t be able to dig deeper into their reason why they need to impose that kind of guidelines,” the Senate leader pointed out.

“Of course on our side, we will present to them why this should not be the guidelines to be put in place and other measures should be taken to combat human trafficking rather than harassing our kababayans who just want to go abroad for whatever purpose—for good time, for vacation, for soul searching, for educational purposes…that’s our kababayan’s call. What is important is they return after their designated visa dates,” Zubiri said.

Zubiri also said the Senate intends to invite some of the persons among the 32,000 travelers who experienced being offloaded or denied travel by the BI.

“They can share their stories on what had happened to them. And why they were offloaded and how they felt after that,” Zubiri said.

“It will be an open hearing. We are waiting for Sen. Grace Poe under the Senate Committee on Public Services to conduct the hearing and the date. Maybe late next week, we will have the hearing on this issue,” he said.

Poe, in a statement, welcomed the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) suspension of the new travel guidelines as it “averted what could have been a chaotic situation at our airports with the possible flight misses and boarding delays due to the cumbersome requirements.”

“We are one in our goal to give ease and security to legitimate travelers while making it hard for wrongdoers to victimize the public,” Poe said.

In a separate statement, Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva also thanked the IACAT for heeding the Senate’s call to suspend the implementation of the revised IACAT travel guidelines.

“This is indeed a testament that our government listens. But our work does not stop here,” Villanueva said.

“We look forward to a dialogue with DOJ Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla and the IACAT council to resolve the issues and find better solutions to combat human trafficking,” the majority leader said.

“Our position remains. The revised IACAT travel guidelines are unreasonable, prone to abuse, and misplaced. The government should not put the burden on our kababayans but instead strengthen their programs against trafficking,” he reiterated.