Department of Justice(DOJ)

February 3, 2017 Dear John Canda, I refer to my letter of Jan 28, 2017 11:50:59 AM about your request under Executive Order No. 2 (s. 2016) on Freedom of Information in the Executive Branch, for Offloading Policies of Filipino tourists travelling to International Destinations. In order for us to work further on your request, we need more information from you regarding your query. Please let us know what specific information or concern relative to the offloading policies of the Bureau of Immigration you wish to inquire or seek information about. This will allow us to answer your question sufficiently and properly. You may use the reply function on the eFOI portal at http://www.foi.gov.ph/requests/aglzfmVmb2ktcGhyHQsSB0NvbnRlbnQiEERPSi03OTk1Njc5OTUxNDYM, for request with ticket number #DOJ-799567995146, to respond. During the period of us awaiting your reply, your request will be put on hold. If we do not receive a reply on or before Apr 28, 2017 08:45:18 AM, your request will be closed. We hope to hear from you at the soonest possible time. Thank you. Respectfully, Erickson Balmes FOI Officer

FROM : ERICKSON H. BALMES Undersecretary FOR : JOHN DEXTER CANDA THRU : IRENE DULIN Head, Communications Division SUBJECT : REPLY TO THE eFOI QUERY ON OFFLOADING POLICIES OF FILIPINOTOURISTS TRAVELLING TO INTERNATIONAL DESTINATIONS DATE : 15 February 2017 Greetings! This is to acknowledge receipt of your request through the eFOI portal dated 28 January 2017 requesting for the offloading policies of the Bureau of Immigration (BI). In pursuance of the provisions of Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003, the Department of Justice (DOJ) issued the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) Revised Guidelines on Departure Formalities for International-Bound Passengers. Under the said Guidelines, the BI is tasked to inspect and monitor international-bound passengers in order to prevent possible violations of trafficking in persons. In the said Guidelines, a passenger intending to travel abroad as a tourist or on temporary visitor’s visa shall undergo the following inspections: a) Primary Inspection and b) Secondary Inspection. Under the Primary Inspection, the following documents are required to be presented before the immigration officer (IO): valid passport; visa, whenever applicable or required; and, a round-trip or return ticket. The IO shall indicate his/her initial assessment in the Boarder Control Questionnaire (BCQ). The travel documents of the passenger shall be examined and an interview shall be conducted to determine the facts and circumstances surrounding the passenger’s travel. A passenger identified by the IO to have a doubtful purpose of travel, fraudulent, falsified or tampered travel documents or identified as a potential trafficked person shall not be cleared for departure and turned over to the Travel Control and Enforcement Unit (TCEU) for secondary inspection. A passenger whose departure is deferred during primary inspection or turned over to the TCEU for secondary inspection shall be required to fill-up the BCQ. Taking into consideration the totality of circumstances such as age, educational attainment, financial capability to travel in accordance with purpose of travel as declared by the passenger, travel history, and country of destination, a passenger shall be automatically referred for secondary inspection whenever it is shown that: 1. The passenger has no financial capacity to travel and is escorted or accompanied by a foreign national who is not a relative by consanguinity or affinity; 2. The passenger is a minor travelling alone or unaccompanied by either parent or legal guardian without the required travel clearance from the DSWD; 3. The passenger is travelling to countries with existing deployment bans, alert levels 3 and 4, and travel advisories; and, 4. The passenger is in possession of visas to said countries and/or had previously stayed abroad for more than six (6) months as a tourist/temporary visitor and is intending to depart for the second and/or subsequent time. If the passenger is travelling through a sponsor, additional documents shall be required, i.e. the affidavit of support and undertaking duly authenticated by the Philippine Embassy or Consulate showing the relationship of the sponsor, his/her financial capacity with legal status, and contact information. If a human trafficking incident has been initially determined, the Immigration Officer shall not clear the passenger for departure and shall execute an Affidavit of Deferred Departure. The passenger, whose departure is deferred, and all his/her pertinent documents, including the passport, shall be turned over to the IACAT Task Force for investigation and case build-up. Since you are travelling abroad this coming April all you have to do, in order to prevent being offloaded, is to comply with all the travel documents as required by the Bureau of Immigration. When you are going abroad and you have all the essential documents to be presented before the Bureau of Immigration, there is no reason for you to be offloaded. We hope that this sufficiently answers your question. For further inquiry, you may visit the website of the Bureau of Immigration at http://www.immigration.gov.ph. Thank you. Truly yours, ERICKSON H. BALMES Undersecretary-in-charge Bureau of Immigration