GMA takes up cudgels for 2 ‘mistreated’ Pinoy pilots

President Arroyo took up the cudgels yesterday for two Filipino pilots who were barred entry to the United States by the US Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) last week.

Mrs. Arroyo instructed the Department of Foreign Affairs to send an official "notification" to the US Embassy in Manila about the "mistreatment" of pilots Bernie Crisostomo and Wel Come in the hands of the INS agents in Seattle, Washington.

She said the two pilots, whom she invited to her weekly radio-television program May Gloria ang Bukas Mo, did not deserve such a harsh treatment.

The two narrated their harrowing experience in Seattle during the program which was aired live from the UST auditorium.

"First of all, we should tell the Americans that (what they did) was not right. These people are solid citizens with no (criminal) records in the Philippines," she said.

Mrs. Arroyo issued her order on the "notification" to the US Embassy to Ambassador Vic Lecaros, DFA spokesman, who also guested in her program.

The two pilots, on their way to a training seminar in Wichita, Kansas, were sent back after INS agents claimed they had violated US immigration laws. — Marichu Villanueva