800 aliens barred from entering RP this year, says immigration bureau

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) said yesterday it has barred some 800 foreign nationals from entering the country during the first half of this year after they were found to be either illegal or undesirable aliens.

This showed a significant increase in the number of excluded foreigners at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport and other ports of entry. A total of 682 aliens were denied entry during the same period last year.

Immigration Commissioner Alipio Fernandez Jr. has attributed the rise in the number of excluded aliens to the bureau’s intensified campaign against human smuggling and its adoption of stricter procedures in screening arriving and departing passengers.

"We have been very vigilant in screening passengers as this is in line with our ongoing campaign not only against human smuggling, but also international terrorists," said the BI chief, who noted that those excluded have been placed in the bureau’s blacklist.

He added that immigration officers are now more adept at detecting fraudulent travel documents with the training and high-tech equipment they acquired from foreign governments such as the US and Australia, which are both active in the global war against human trafficking and terrorism.

BI records showed that 95 percent of the excluded aliens during the period were intercepted at the NAIA while the rest were barred at the subports of Mactan, Subic, Zamboanga, Davao, Clark and Laoag.

Like in previous years, Japanese nationals suspected of being Yakuza gang members topped the list of foreigners who were denied entry at NAIA with a total of 222.

At NAIA, there were also 99 Chinese, 75 Koreans, 55 Indians, 28 Taiwanese and nine Americans who were caught using tampered passports, fake visas and other spurious travel documents.

Fernandez said they likewise recorded cases of blacklisted aliens and former deportees who tried to slip back into the country by assuming other identities or using fake passports to avoid detection.

The BI chief also reported that 1,144 departing passengers, mostly Filipinos, were barred from leaving the country during the same period.

Most of the offloaded passengers were "tourist workers" or contract workers disguised as tourists and passengers whose names were in the bureau’s hold departure list and watchlist.