BI chief: Over 16K passengers offloaded from Jan. to June 2024

A total of 16,617 passengers have been offloaded in the first half of 2024, Bureau of Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco said Wednesday.

The figure is less than a half of the 36,316 offloaded passengers in 2023.

Tansingco disclosed the figures at the Senate finance committee hearing on the proposed P40.585 billion budget of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and its attached agencies after Senator Grace Poe raised concerns of passengers experiencing "power tripping" from Immigration personnel at the airports.

"Sometimes, because of some questions that are unnecessary, burdensome, kung ano-ano ang mga tinatanong, nag-pa-powertrip eh 'yung iba, merong mga na-o-offload na passengers," Poe said.

(Sometimes, because of unnecessary, burdensome and nitpicky questions, some are even on a powertrip, there are passengers who end up being offloaded.)

Tansingco provided a breakdown of the 16,617 passengers and explained that most of these passengers are individuals who were presenting themselves as overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) or tourists.

"So far, we received no formal complaint for an arbitrary offloading. The composition of this is 7,985 OFWs, 7,591 presenting themselves as tourists, 1,041 categorized as others," Tansingco said.

"We already have a real time connectivity or data sharing with [Department of Migrant Workers] wherein duly registered OFWs, the one with the OEC or the OFW pass, no more questions on them. We can already determine in our system na legitimate OFW talaga sila. The others, itong mga presenting themselves na OFW na hindi naman and we refer them usually to IACAT or the NBI," the BI chief added.

Poe then asked if there were complaints that were lodged by offloaded passengers as she reminded that there is a compensation package for them.

"There is supposedly a compensation package for them ha. Kailangan mabayaran 'yung mga na-miss nilang flight, mga ganyan. Meron bang magre-report from any branch of the DOJ? Sa PAO meron bang nag-complain?" she asked.

[There is supposedly a compensation package for them ... they get paid for a missed flight, like that. ANy [agency under] the DOJ has a report on that? Are there any complaint received by the PAO?]

According to Public Attorney's Office (PAO) chief Persida Acosta, they have received complaints regarding offloading.

"Meron din po. Ang tinatanong daw sa kanila. 'May pera kayo?' 'Pag walang dalang pera, hindi pinapalipad," Acosta said.

[We have received reports. They are being asked if they have money. If don't have money, they are refused to fly.]

Asked if these complaints have been resolved, Acosta said the PAO just shoulders the cost of the passengers' tickets so they can go back to their provinces.

Poe then told PAO to get reimbursement from the BI for the money that they have shelled out. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News