Senators urged the Bureau of Immigration to establish a processing center for chartered and private flight passengers, stating that the ‘VIPs’ and their luggage do not undergo regular screening.
In a recent plenary debate on the bureau’s 2025 budget, Senator Raffy Tulfo sought an update about this proposal to tighten the security measures for the processing of VIP passengers similar to the process implemented for regular travelers.
He said such special treatment in the airport is “being abused by wealthy criminals, fugitives, and blacklisted individuals who come in and out of the country.”
Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada also asked the bureau and other agencies to implement effective measures to prevent fugitives from escaping authorities by using chartered flights.
Estrada highlighted the need for government agencies to address the issue. He cited the case of dismissed Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo, who managed to leave the country with her relatives undetected.
The agency recently confirmed that Guo traveled by air.
“If we continue to neglect and not give attention to this problem, there will be a lot of fugitives who can evade arrest and flee our country. Something must be done,” said Estrada.
Tulfo also wants the installation of CCTV cameras at the immigration booth to record all conversations between the passengers and immigration officers at the airport to avoid possible complaints.
He raised the issues of offloaded luggage and passengers being held at the immigration.
“What if we just put a CCTV camera in the immigration booth and while the interview is going on, it is recorded so that if there is a complaint, it can be reviewed?” the broadcaster-politician suggested.
“Because without it, it is the passenger’s word against the immigration officer’s word, so the immigration officer’s word would carry more weight. But if there is a CCTV camera that records all the conversations, blow by blow, the playing field would be leveled,” Tulfo added.
This year, 20,349 individuals were offloaded due to various reasons, including doubtful travel purpose, insufficient travel or supporting documents, non-compliance with previous deferred departure requirements, misrepresentation or withholding of travel information, fraudulent or tampered supporting documents, refusal to undergo secondary inspection, and illegal recruitment or suspected trafficking.
Senator Grace Poe, chairperson of the Senate finance committee, disclosed the inclusion of additional funding for the Immigration Bureau to strengthen its border control capability.
Defending the proposed budget of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and its attached agencies, Poe said her committee amended the 2025 General Appropriations Bill to give the BI an additional P921 million to upgrade its biometric identification system and to procure other necessary mobile devices.
She also welcomed propositions to further raise the BI budget to purchase body-worn cameras as a measure to protect both immigration officers and travelers.
“We prioritized this in our amendments in the committee report,” Poe said.
According to Poe, the bureau is proposing setting up a facility where individuals can be processed before boarding private planes to prevent the entry of smuggled goods into the country and eliminate trafficking in persons.
“Unfortunately, the budget for the facility has not yet been included in the budget of the Department of Transportation (DOTr),” she said.
For the meantime, the bureau has mobile devices that will check the identity of the passengers of private planes and if their documents are Customs compliant.
