Wanted: Polite immigration officers!

I was watching ANC News yesterday morning reporting about First Daughter Luli Arroyo’s brush with immigration officer Edgardo Padlan at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Authority (NAIA) the other day. Apparently, as the presidential daughter was leaving for Hong Kong, she lined up like everyone else (this is why I admire Luli so much as she has no airs at all!) in the immigration booth to have her passport stamped... but a foreigner who was behind her was processed ahead of her. Of course, anyone would complain if this happened to them and I don’t blame Luli for complaining about this... it is only the right thing to do!

Now that Padlan has been given the boot and removed from his post and like most Filipino bureaucrats who cry after they’ve been caught... they make pleas that they have a family to feed and Padlan even offered to meet with Luli Arroyo to ask for forgiveness and even kneel before her. He’s just so lucky that the presidential daughter is not a loud kind of person; she’s so sweet and unassuming and more than anything else, she has a kind heart. But will forgiving Padlan be the end to rudeness in the immigration? I most certainly doubt it!

I don’t know what the outcome of this brouhaha would be... but let me say that it is time for the Bureau of Immigration to truly crack down on rude immigration officers; there are just too many of them that turn off many tourists... now even our presidential daughter herself got a taste of their arrogance or rudeness!

I don’t know if there’s an epidemic of rudeness by our immigration officers, but last year, I wrote about an incident that happened to the mother of my brother-in-law Noboyuki Kono who was leaving for Japan and she was rudely told that she had overstayed in the country. As she doesn’t speak English, my brother-in-law, who was behind her, tried to intervene and explain, but he was rudely interrupted and asked to step back in line, as he had nothing to do with the problem. Later they had to ask him anyway.

In short, Yuki’s mother was slapped with a fine for overstaying. But how could she have overstayed when she has a Philippine Retirement Authority (PRA) visa, which allows foreigners to stay here indefinitely? Mind you, you have to put in a large sum of money in order to qualify for the PRA, but unfortunately there are a few immigration officers who do not even know this very laudable program!

I wrote about this incident in my column in The Freeman and yes, the immigration officer was also removed from his post by BI regional director Geronimo Rosas. A few days later, a Muslim woman, apparently the wife of the immigration officer, came to my office, begging me to forgive her husband. I merely told her that I had no right to forgive someone who was not rude to me. However, I did tell the wife about having good manners and right conduct in the hope that she would teach her husband... after all, immigration officers are practically the doormats of our nation.

Is rudeness the norm at the immigration offices or are we merely seeing a drop in the bucket of rudeness among our immigration officers? Tourism is the thrust of the Arroyo administration, thus all government agencies must undergo some kind of politeness seminar to emphasize the importance or impact of tourists coming to our shores. Yet this incident did not happen to a tourist, but to the presidential daughter! Something is undoubtedly wrong with the training programs of the BI and I suggest that they carry out drastic measures to correct their mistakes.

As for Luli, this is not the first incident where she had a brush with rude people... a couple of years ago, she had a brush with a taxi driver in Cebu and she e-mailed me, asking for help to correct the problem, which we also wrote in The Freeman. Like I’ve said, this is because she’s so unassuming and humble and easily melts with the crowd.

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Last week, we wrote about our troubles of lack of planes and ships by the Air Force and Navy and apparently a lot of our readers responded to that article. Here’s another e-mailed response, this time from an OFW and his comments should be heard:

"Dear Mr. Bobit, I read your article about the sorry state of our Air Force and Navy. Well said, it is a really, really sad, pathetic and shameful state, so to speak. I have seen up close the many modern combat and support planes displayed in the Middle East during the build-up to the Gulf War and how I wish that a squadron or two of the F-8, F-15 or F16 be part of our Air Force. Then nobody would dare trespass our airspace. As it is because of lack of air capability that our neighbors are flying over us with impunity, mocking our sovereignty.

"You’re right, why can’t we build our own Navy craft when we have all the needed manpower and facilities. We have the brains and skills needed to make this a reality. This is very obvious while looking at the number of Filipinos working overseas who are daily pitting skills, wit and intelligence worldwide to survive. We can build our own planes and ships if we put our mind and effort into it. Money is not a problem if the ‘bright boys’ in the government use their heads for once. Every problem has a solution; the ‘bright boys’ should know this. They must get rid of their papogi antics and shameful kabalbalan in the two Houses of (Congress) and start to find a solution.

"The money is there; all that is needed is the cooperation of these ‘bright boys.’ Look at this simple adding of numbers: one year of the combined pork barrel for the two Houses (of Congress) equals a pair of F16s (at an approximate cost of $60 million each). Then our good government shall match this gesture by also setting aside the equivalent amount to buy another pair. Voila, we have a mini-squadron of fighter planes already (mind you this is only for a year).

"My point, Mr. Bobit, is that we can be a great nation progressively and defensively and be looked up to if we want to. We just don’t know ‘or refuse to know’ where and when to start. We are well-known worldwide as great innovators but never great in following through. We have the brains but just don’t know how to use it in a useful way. Kelan tayo magigising? I have no idea. I just hope that when we do so, it’s not too late for our country.

"OFWs like myself would like to see our country where it should be, right there up the ladder. We are doing our share in helping our country up to its feet in our own small way and we are willing to help more if needed. Thanks and God bless. Best regards, Jaime E. Tomboc <Jaime [email protected]> TSKJN- SIX Project Bonny Island, Nigeria"

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For e-mail responses to this article, write to [email protected]. Bobit Avila’s columns in The Freeman can also be accessed through The Philippine STAR website (www.philstar.com). He also hosts a weekly talkshow, "Straight from the Sky," shown every Monday, 8 p.m., only in Metro Cebu on Channel 15 of SkyCable. Bobit’s columns can also be accessed at www.shootinginsidecebu.blogspot.com.