Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero on Tuesday, September 10 said the incoming Bureau of Immigration (BI) commissioner should rush the reimbursement of the expenses incurred by thousands of passengers who missed their flights due to unnecessary delays caused by the unreasonable pre-departure procedures of the agency.
Escudero noted it is already “Ber” months, yet not a single of the offloaded passengers who were subjected to lengthy interrogation by immigration personnel were reimbursed.
“Ang bilis mag-offload, ang bagal naman mag-download ng reimbursement (They are quick to offload but they are so slow to download reimbursement),” said Escudero, who previously raised the issue during the hearing on the BI’s budget.
It was Escudero who introduced a special provision in the 2024 General Appropriations Act (GAA) mandating reimbursement of passengers who were left behind by their flights due to unreasonable immigration processes.
Under the 2024 national budget, the funds for the reimbursement will come from the un-utilized collections of the BI that are returned to the Bureau of Treasury.
Despite the “clear instructions” under the GAA, Escudero lamented that the agencies involved in its implementation are seemingly dragging their feet on this matter.
“Hanggang ngayon wala pang guidelines (Until now there are still no guidelines),“ said Escudero.
The Senate chief said this issue will “surely hound the BI” in the upcoming plenary debates on the 2025 national budget in November if non-payment remains unresolved.
“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 (Out of the many people you have searched because of the suspicion that they are victims of human trafficking, only a few turn out to have a real case). There’s something wrong with this picture,” he pointed out.
Escudero lamented that many of the passengers who were unable to board their flights ended up incurring additional expenses for rebooking their flights, hotel reservations and food.
“I have personally heard of the plight of OFWs returning to their legal jobs abroad with little money left in their pockets—with some becoming instant refugees in their own land because some of their countrymen deemed them unfit for travel,” he said.
This kind of profiling, the lawmaker said, “has no place in our immigration system.”
“The country cannot have two immigration regimes where moneyed fugitives escaping the law are escorted to waiting private jets and yachts, while ordinary folks have to go through the wringer on the mere suspicion of being unfit for travel," Escudero said.