Panayam kay Bureau of Immigration Dana Sandoval
Panayam kay Bureau of Immigration Dana Sandoval
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NewsTranscript
00:00 Update on the Umanoy Visa Scam and efforts to increase the number of Filipino migrants who visit the country.
00:08 We will talk with Dana Sandoval, the spokesperson of the Bureau of Immigration.
00:14 Ms. Dana, good afternoon.
00:16 Good afternoon to you and of course to everyone who is watching your program.
00:21 Thank you again for inviting me to your program.
00:25 Thank you very much Ms. Dana for the introduction.
00:28 I will start with the four lawyers of the Bureau of Immigration who were involved in the Visa Scam.
00:35 What is the update on your investigation regarding this?
00:39 Yes, actually these four lawyers have been relieved from their duties as visa officers
00:46 along with the head of their unit, the Visa Task Force, pending the investigation.
00:52 A letter directive was issued by Commissioner Tan Singco to have a fact-finding committee to investigate this matter
01:04 and to see whether these lawyers and if there are others involved in this scheme.
01:13 Apart from those inside the Bureau that we are looking at, we are also looking into some private entities,
01:20 like agencies that submitted the applications of these foreign nationals with fake companies.
01:28 Maybe in the next few weeks, we would be able to update you on the latest in their investigation.
01:37 After the investigation of our fact-finding committee, we will submit a recommendation to the office of our good Secretary of Justice
01:46 to have the rightful sanctions of those directly involved in this case.
01:52 Ma'am, this is Chi. This development is alarming. Based on your initial investigation,
02:00 what is the process of these people who were not included in the Visa Scams?
02:04 Where are they going and how did they reach more than 400 foreign nationals who were given illegal visas?
02:12 Yes. This Visa Scam, what we saw is that foreign nationals are petitioned by a company that is non-existent.
02:25 In order to apply for a working visa, what we call 9G visa, you need to be petitioned by a company here in the Philippines that is legitimate and existent.
02:37 We learned that through the post-audit at the year-end of 2023, there are 116 employers that are non-existent.
02:47 So on paper, when we look at it and they are face-to-face with all the documents, they do have their petitioners, petitioning companies,
02:56 they do have all the other requirements for working visas. But upon verification with the companies themselves,
03:04 the companies are not existing to the point that there are no operations at all.
03:09 There are no offices, no people, no operations.
03:13 The companies who are supposedly petitioning these foreign nationals.
03:19 Okay. Are these 400 foreign nationals who were given visas only for 2023?
03:29 Yes.
03:30 Okay. But is it possible that more have entered the country illegally?
03:35 This 459 was for the period of 2023 until October 2023 because this is the result of the investigation or the audit of the Verification and Compliance Division,
03:51 the year-end audit of our VCD, which was submitted to the Board of Commissioners during their meeting.
04:01 But during the help of Commissioner Tancingo and our Secretary of Justice, one of their discussions is to expand the probe up to the past five years back,
04:14 to see if there are further people, if there were more people, there were more foreign nationals who were petitioned by these fake companies.
04:23 We are seeing the names of the petitioners, the fake companies that are requesting visas for these foreign nationals.
04:33 We will look into all the visas that were issued for the past five years to see if these companies have also petitioned other foreign nationals here in the Philippines.
04:43 Wow. Okay Ma'am Dana, it seems like they organized this crime.
04:47 But aside from the lawyers who were involved, are you looking at other people who are involved in this scheme outside of your jurisdiction?
04:55 Yes. We are looking at agencies and liaison officers who might be involved here, maybe 40 agencies.
05:07 These are accredited agencies of the Bureau of Immigration that are authorized to process applications of foreign nationals on their behalf.
05:18 These agencies are submitting applications of foreign nationals. We are looking at their involvement in procuring documents that are not correct or fake documents.
05:34 We have also submitted this to the NBI so that we can look at this more closely.
05:40 We are working with the Department of Justice on the investigation about this.
05:45 We are not limiting this to those inside the Bureau, but also to those outside that might be supplying the fake companies,
05:55 the documents that are being submitted by these foreign nationals.
06:00 Ma'am, here in the news that the NBI was intercepted by a woman who left the country to go to the Middle East. What is the detail here?
06:12 Yes. This was intercepted last Monday. This is very recent. This is our latest intercepted by those who are pretending to be old.
06:24 We call them on the ground pretending to be old. Before we deploy the Filipino, before we deploy them to the Middle East as household service workers,
06:35 as OFW, there is an age requirement. It's 24 years old. Now, we have some countrymen that are resorting to falsifying their age to make it seem like they are older than they really are
06:50 to be eligible for deployment. We can see this as a big trafficking scheme because we are deploying minorities and underage.
07:02 It makes them very vulnerable. That's why there are age limitations. It's because of purpose, there are age limitations for the protection of the OFW.
07:14 These are part of negotiations between countries. We cannot circumvent these age limitations.
07:24 When our immigration officers interviewed this victim, she admitted that she received all her documents before she entered the airport.
07:39 Her passport, birth certificate, and ID's that were given to her right before departure.
07:48 When she was asked about the basic, basic, basic details about her age, her answer was very clear.
07:57 We saw this as a very similar pattern to the ones we intercepted in the past few years.
08:05 That's why we're worried because the ones we intercepted have stopped. But now, for 2024, this victim has popped up again.
08:14 So we're worried that it might be coming back to that mode because it has stopped and the people who are not in touch with her have stopped.
08:26 That's why we're trying to send out the message and the information about this incident so that these modes will stop.
08:39 That's right Ma'am Dana. But let's go back to the woman. Where is she now and what is the assistance of the Bureau of Immigration to her?
08:49 Yes. As part of our procedure, when we intercept a victim of human trafficking, we refer, we endorse it to the Interagency Council Against Trafficking.
09:00 In Iacat, there are many agencies that are working to assist trafficking victims.
09:06 NBI on the investigation, the recruiter, the one who is processing the documents, there is also DSWD on the assistance to the individuals.
09:19 Iacat is the center hub of these different agencies. It's automatic. Once we refer it to Iacat, there is assistance already given by the different government agencies.
09:30 This is to remind them and first of all, to remind them to file a case against her recruiter because this is already an abuse.
09:43 We can see that even the children, underage, minors are being coerced into agreeing to these kinds of schemes.
09:55 Ma'am we have a question here from TV5 News Desk. Can you see the trafficking trend rising again?
10:06 Maybe for 2024, we are not yet there. It's too early to say that it's rising or falling.
10:15 But given the reopening of the shores of different countries from the past few years, it definitely rose because other countries opened up again after the pandemic.
10:30 But we're hoping that with the increased awareness on human trafficking, on these schemes, on illegal recruitment, the number of victims will decrease.
10:43 But for now, we are still seeing victims. There are still victims of cryptocurrency scams. There are still those who want to work abroad using a tourist visa.
10:59 It's still an everyday thing that we are seeing in our operation.
11:04 Ma'am what you're saying everyday, how many are you intercepting everyday, average?
11:12 On the average, maybe 30 a day, we are intercepting victims of human trafficking. It's still ongoing and many of these victims are still being recruited on social media.
11:29 There was one recent victim who was intercepted and she told us about her experience. She was recruited via Facebook through one of the Facebook groups offering work abroad.
11:47 She messaged, she contacted personally, she sent money. What they sent is of great importance. One of the victims even spent as much as P800,000.
11:58 She was only able to go home because she was a victim of cryptocurrency scams. So it's still there and it's still prevalent.
12:07 We don't want this to happen to our countrymen. We want to be aware because it really starts with yourself, the protection against trafficking.
12:20 If we know what's happening or at least we ask questions, we should be aware. We should not be satisfied with the offers.
12:30 It's a big thing to protect ourselves from these syndicates.
12:37 All right. In other talks, based on your data, how many Filipino migrants visited the country in the past year?
12:49 Well for last year, many people are traveling to the country. That's one of the things we want to increase our countrymen to return to the Philippines.
13:09 We saw that after the pandemic, that's the type of traveler who first visited the Philippines. We're hoping for the next few years to increase that.
13:25 We know that when they return to the country, they don't just stay for the regular 30 days. When they return to the country, they get one year visa free.
13:33 So the former Filipinos, when they go back to the Philippines, they get one year visa free here in the country without having to extend their stay here.
13:42 One year is free. What's good about that is if they travel with their spouse and their children, they also get one year visa free so they can spend more time here with their family.
13:54 That's one thing that we see is very important. It will also help on the macro scale when we look at the effect on our economy.
14:04 They are staying here longer, meaning their contribution to the movement of our economy is greater. That's a big thing for us.
14:15 That's why we are targeting together with the Department of Tourism to increase the visit of overseas Filipinos in the country.
14:26 In 2023, our arrivals are 12.6 million. Those are our total arrivals.
14:32 One of the top countries, two of the top countries in our arrivals are those coming from the U.S. and those coming from Canada.
14:42 We know that there are many former Filipinos and their families. That's why we're very happy with these numbers and we're hoping that it will increase in the next year.
14:53 That's good news for our tourism. What support can the Immigration Bureau provide for Filipinos to visit and vacation in our country?
15:06 Yes we do have our priority lanes for OFWs and Filipinos. We have priority lanes for that.
15:15 We are also in the process of increasing our electronic gates, targeting Filipinos who use electronic gates.
15:28 For this year, for 2024, it's already set. Our budget has been approved thankfully. 25 percent of our manual operations will be converted to electronic gates.
15:39 That's a big thing so that their immigration process will be fast and they can spend more time with their family.
15:47 Like I mentioned, they can always visit here in the country and stay longer because they have the Balikbayan privilege of staying here longer in the Philippines.
16:00 They can stay here for one year. Also, they have the option to retain or reacquire their Philippine citizenship if they can.
16:11 Those who are naturalized, like former Filipinos and now Americans, they can reacquire their Philippine citizenship either in our Philippine posts,
16:23 or in the Bureau of Immigration if they are in the Philippines. It's better if they are dual citizens.
16:30 They are not tied to their one year in the Philippines. They can stay here indefinitely as long as they can.
16:38 They can retire here if they want to and they have the privileges of both their foreign government and the Philippine government.
16:47 Ma'am, before we say goodbye, Chi and I have a question. You mentioned e-gates.
16:54 I have experienced this. My personal friends, for example, they went to Mahabat and they have a child with them.
17:02 When they arrived at the e-gate, they were sent away and sent back to Mahabat because no one told them that the child is not allowed.
17:11 Chi may have experienced that. Yes, that happened to us. We were a bit delayed because we had to go back to the other line.
17:22 I hope you can tell us right away. Yes, we will relay this on the ground.
17:28 We actually have our special lanes on the ground for those with children and families and senior citizens.
17:36 We have a special lane there. We will relay your experience on the ground so they can take corrective measures.
17:45 We want it to be smooth and we can do it. We will increase the visibility of our materials on the area, on the e-gates,
17:58 so our countrymen will be guided who will be using our electronic gates.
18:05 You mentioned earlier that there is a special lane for children with families. Yes, we do.
18:11 But ma'am, what happened to me personally, we went there and the older children were sent away.
18:18 They wanted to go to another line. Is that right?
18:21 Or should a family stay on that line if there is a child with them?
18:28 Normally, we allow families with small children in one lane because most families travel together.
18:37 We will relay the incident to the terminal head in charge so we can take corrective measures.
18:45 I hope it won't be delayed because not only Chi, but many of us know that this happened.
18:54 They just said that they hope that someone will tell them in the beginning or assist that you cannot be here,
19:00 the child cannot be here. I hope that the family won't separate because it's just a flight.
19:06 Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Maybe you can send a short message for our countrymen.
19:12 Yes, thank you first of all for the invite to be part of this program and for us to share updates about the Bureau of Immigration.
19:21 To our countrymen, you can expect that there will be many in store for 2024 for the Bureau of Immigration.
19:28 We are planning to automate a lot of our processes. Many of our processes will be online.
19:34 We have some applications that are online already but we will be expanding this for 2024.
19:40 You can expect a fruitful year for the Bureau of Immigration. That's all.
19:46 Thank you very much for your time, Ms. Dana Sandoval, the spokesperson of the Bureau of Immigration.
19:53 Thank you.