It’s no longer enough for you to just have your passport, VISA, and roundtrip ticket when you want to leave the Philippines for vacation, business, or work. The Bureau of Immigration now wants you to also PROVE YOUR FINANCIAL CAPABILITY TO TRAVEL. There will be a secondary inspection wherein you will have to provide documents to show that you are financially fit to travel. Yes folks, the Bureau of Immigration is making it harder for Filipinos to leave the country regardless if it’s for business or leisure.

According to them this is to address the human trafficking problem that’s going in the Philippines. I’m not sure that this is the best solution for it. Curbing the rights of everyone else is just ridiculous and plain crazy.

We strongly protest this policy and while we’re not lawyers here we kinda feel that our right to travel is being violated because of the additional hassle and inconvenience that Pinoy travelers will have to suffer.

Here’s a link to the new policy.

Here’s a link to a news article about this on GMA News.

[UPDATE]

It looks like all the stress wasn’t warranted. Here’s the a from Commissioner Fred Mison of the Bureau of Immigration that was shared on Facebook:

“Financial capacity is not a requisite for Filipinos who wish to travel abroad either as tourists or Overseas Filipino Workers.

Financial capacity is not a requisite before a citizen is allowed to enter or leave the country. The right to travel is enshrined in the Constitution and enjoyed by every Filipino citizen.

Those who have complete travel documents, particularly holding an authentic passport and other documents issued by a foreign country such as a tourist or working visa, are allowed to leave. Offloading, which is most often misinterpreted by many people to mean, the power of the Immigration Bureau to bar anyone from leaving the country is not an official government policy.

A person may only be asked to present further proof as to the reason for his travel abroad if the person appears to have a different reason other than what he has declared before an immigration official…”

Jay Jaboneta, a friend on Facebook, explained this further. The “Secondary Inspection” part of the policy states:

2. Secondary Inspection·
2.1 The Bureau of Immigration shall conduct a secondary inspection of a
traveler, WHEN DEEMED NECESSARY, for the purpose of protecting vulnerable victims of
human trafficking and illegal recruitment and other related offenses, through the
assessment of the following circumstances…

Thank you Jay for enlightening us on this one. With that in mind the policy makes more sense. It won’t hurt to bring a bank statement with you though just in case you bump into crazy immigration officer. Lastly the Bureau of Immigration needs better PR and Communications people. They definitely sucked in explaining this new policy (based on the GMA interview it really felt that the secondary inspection was for EVERYONE).