Filipino groups call for end to travel restriction

Dubai: An alliance of 12 UAE-based Filipino organisations yesterday reiterated their call on the Philippine government to scrap the implementation of a travel regulatory measure which requires Filipinos who will be visiting their relatives in the UAE to present an attested guarantee letter before immigration authorities stationed in Philippine airports.

Representatives of the groups called the Alliance of Overseas Filipino Workers Against AOS (affidavit of support) symbolically binned copies of the document issued by the Philippine Consulate in Dubai to dramatise their opposition to the policy. They labelled the AOS as a form of "state extortion". The Philippine Embassy in Abu Dhabi and the Consulate in Dubai charge Dh100 for the attestation of an AOS.

"Even if the document is not a travel requirement of the UAE, the Philippine government continues to authenticate it as it is a money-making scheme for them. This not an answer to human trafficking, but is actually a systematic way of human trafficking as some immigration officers themselves act as agents of it," said Nhel Morona, secretary-general of Migrante-UAE.

Filipinos resorted to the presentation of the AOS before airport authorities as documentary proof that they will take care of the board and lodging and travel expenses of a relative they're sponsoring.

Gulf News earlier reported cases of alleged extortion by Bureau of Immigration (BI) officials at Manila's airports for visit or tourist visa holders. Some victims claimed that they had to bribe unscrupulous airport personnel ranging from 15,000 pesos (Dh1,296) to 50,000 pesos (Dh4,321). Rey, 36, was thrice offloaded from his flight at Manila's Ninoy Aquino International Aiport (NAIA) in September even though he had presented the necessary travel documents, including an authenticated AOS. Desperate to leave the country, Rey, on his fourth attempt, called a travel agent for help.

No choice

"The travel agent said, ‘You have no choice but to pay grease money. I know someone who has connections with the BI. You'll need to pay him 30,000 (Dh2,593) pesos'," Rey said.

According to a two-year study of the Visayan Forum, a Philippine-based human trafficking watchdog, Philippine Bureau of Immigration (BI) personnel stationed at airports are the most vulnerable to corruption. It said stopping people at airports should not be the only recourse.

"This is just a stop-gap measure to the problems of our people here. This culture of migration among Filipinos can only be resolved by addressing its root cause — the lack of job opportunities in the Philippines," Jerome Alcantara, of Visayan Forum, told Gulf News in a phone interview from Manila.

BI spokesperson Atty Ma. Antonette Mangrobang told Gulf News that they screen travelers holding visit or tourist visas because most of them are not really tourists, but are in search of jobs abroad bypassing government's regulatory procedures. "The best way to ensure that you will be able to depart is to be honest about your intentions to travel. No amount of documentation can help you if you are trying to deceive government that you are really there just for tourism purposes," she said.

Benito Valeriano, the consul-general in Dubai, said their attestation of the AOS is a ministerial function that the Philippine mission is mandated to do.

"The consulate is just a notary public here. We cannot refuse our compatriots who seek attestation if they think that it's needed. This matter should be addressed to the [authorities in Manila]," he said. "If they submit the petition here, I will endorse it to the Department of Justice in Manila."

Organisations that oppose the measure