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Formalities

Immigration/Deportation

The office of the Commission on Immigration is located in Intramuros on Magallanes Drive near the General Post Office. Visa extensions can be made there personally, or they can be commissioned to an experienced travel agency. Southeast Travel at the corner of Del Pilar St and Pedro Gil St is the one travel agency in the tourist belt for years handling the largest number of visa extensions.

Fake visa extensions used to be made even in the office of the Commission on Immigration. Often tourists got their visa extended with the unofficial help of officials or fixers inside the Immigration building who, to the tourist, seemed just to be friendly officers. These tourists regularly ended up with fake extensions without knowing. After all, they dealt with officers (as it appeared because they were wearing shirts with office seals), and they paid the full amounts, too.

Some people who regularly visited the Philippines during the last few years claim, that the Commission on Immigration regards as suspicious such regular visits. They therefore opted to get new passports issued abroad before re-entering The Country .

After Miriam Defensor-Santiago became Commissioner on Immigration in January 1988, this authority had developed, among foreigners, a frightening reputation.

A particular problem seems to be the conditions under which alleged violators of immigration laws are detained. The Manila Standard reported June 18, 1989: "Alien detainees at the CID detention center in Fort Bonifacio, Makati, are on hunger strike since last Friday denouncing alleged rampant violations of their human rights by their civilian and military custodians. In a letter slipped into the Standard editorial offices yesterday by an emissary, it was gathered that the detainees have refused the insufficient food rationed to them by Commission on Immigration and Deportation (CID) authorities through the military custodians. They accused a Philippine Army (PA) officer of allegedly treating them like criminals and depriving them of their rights to use the camp telephones. The detainees urged Fort Bonifacio authorities, specially Army commanding general Maj. General Mariano Adalem, to conduct an investigation into their complaints. In pleading for investigation of the alleged abuses by their custodians, the detainees said that they were being made to suffer for the escape last May 31 of three Pakistani nationals who had reportedly been falsely accused of illegal wire tapping. Two of the escapees, who were reported afflicted with sexual disease, had been prevented from seeing a physician prompting them to bolt their cell. Filipino wives of the detainees sought the help of Army and CID authorities in finding out why they were being held incommunicado - with no telephone and no water. One of the wives, in a letter addressed to the Standard, said she and her one year old son were prevented by detention cell guards from seeing her detained husband last Saturday. One enlisted man threatened her with harm if she insisted on visiting her husband. The detainees claimed that some of them were being held by CID without charges. 'We are not criminals. Why are we subjected to this brutal treatment by our custodians?' the detainees complained."

The following letter by a certain James Goddard was published in 1989 in the Bangkok Post:

"Sir: Your correspondent... Harold Stephens has given a most accurate account in his article 'Philippines: Tourist are getting fewer, and not just due to politics' (Bangkok Post, January 30). Unfortunately he tried to cover too much of The Country in a short time, missing even worse reasons for the absence of tourists. Since its takeover almost three years ago factions within the Government have instilled an anti-foreigner feeling into the nation. Admitted it was not intended to be against all foreigners, but they failed to make a distinction, so the population took to despising all foreigners. The worst offender is the Commissioner on Immigration and Deportation, Miriam Defensor Santiago. One typical example was when several elderly tourists were visiting one of that country's major attractions, Pagsanjan Falls and Rapids. Whilst they were walking along a quiet road, an Immigration officer, brandishing a gun, forced them into a resort where they were included in another group, transported to Manila and imprisoned for no other reason than they were foreigners and in that town. An appeal to the commissioner that they had broken no laws and requested to see their embassy or lawyer received a blunt 'you have the right to remain silent' from Santiago. Then followed two days of mental torture after which all were offered the alternative of accepting deportation or months in prison without a charge being laid, least of all proof of guilt. Only tourists with a sadistic (sic) nature would consider visiting that type of country. The Philippines has not geared itself for an influx of tourists, unlike Thailand. There are night clubs with go-go girls, many of them first class and safe, but the Superintendent of Police, Gen. Lim in cooperation with Commissioner Santiago, closed all those operated by foreigners. What does this leave the tourists to do of a night? Nothing. Little wonder tourists are flocking to Thailand in preference to countries like the Philippines. Thais are genuinely friendly and hospitable whilst their country protects tourists during their stay."

One of the most prominent Philippine columnists, Emil Jurado, in the Manila Standard of October 30, 1989, pointed out that criticism of former Immigration Commissioner had reached international levels:

"A Tourism-oriented periodical called 'The Blue Book' has this to say about our Commission on Immigration : 'Perhaps the most frightening aspect of the whole matter is that the CID operates outside of all legal and humanitarian restraints as a Canadian family of four found out in July 1988, when the husband and wife, together with two children aged six and ten, were arrested by CID operatives, and imprisoned for two days for alleged irregularities in their travel documents. As the group (names withheld to prevent possible embarrassment) left the Manila Hotel, they were approached by immigration agents and asked for their passports and visas. Having produced the documents, they were forced into a van and taken to CID headquarters for additional 'verification', then thrust into a detention center and held without food or water for some six hours in the mid-summer heat, even without a fan.' The report continues: 'When the furious husband demanded that he be allowed to contact the Canadian Embassy, this was flatly refused, but some food and drink was then provided. However, the family was told that 'complications' made it impossible to verify the alleged discrepancies in their documents so they must be detained till the following day. Needless to say, the captors eventually mentioned that cash payment could ease the situation, and as soon as the price had been agreed, the family was allowed to contact the hotel and airlines they were booked with, and make arrangements to abandon their holiday. After five crisp $100 notes were paid over to their captors, they were escorted like criminals to their hotel, where they picked up their luggage and were then driven to the airport to catch a plane out of Manila to Hong Kong. Unfortunately all flights were full and they had to spend two days waiting in the airline terminal until, in desperation, they changed tickets to another airline and another destinations.' This sounds all too familiar, doesn't it? The report goes on: 'One of our Manila correspondents interviewed the family as they waited at the Manila airport (now named Ninoy Aquino International Airport), while in the company of their escort from the immigration department. While the husband shaved off two days of beard, he told our correspondent that while at the immigration headquarters, the children were not allowed toilet paper, nor soap to wash with. Nor was anything furnished to fight off mosquitoes. Worst of all, there was almost no food and drink and 'the place was unbelievable filthy and except for some old newspapers, the children had no place to lie down that would be anything near clean.' It is interesting to note that subsequent enquiries at the CID office revealed nobody would admit to even knowing about this family and the blackmail scam they suffered. It is obvious that somebody is no longer in control of CID, who are blackmailing a fortune from hapless foreigners, against the day when the whole corrupt CID regime is toppled. In the meantime, however, it is very definitely advisable to stay away from the Philippines. Visiting that country nowadays can be very dangerous to your health.?' Come to think of it, in my talks with several detainees at the CID detention center and at Fort Bonifacio, the most common complaint is filth, lack of food and subhuman conditions. There is even talk of some CID agents giving one-week furloughs to detainees for P30,000. The 'Blue Book' report should confirm this. Isn't it about time that Congress conduct an inquiry since the Justice Department seems to be blind and deaf to all these reports? Who said that graft and corruption have been eradicated at the CID?"

Continued

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