eTravel pains

You know it’s a popular season for traveling when television news outlets are already reporting live from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) to check if there are already hordes of passengers preparing to leave town or the country during the Holy Week break.

And indeed, travelers with their suitcases of different shapes and sizes have already descended into the different airport terminals for wherever holiday destinations they’re off to. Some celebrities and public personalities have already posted photos from the airport with the caption “vacation starts now.”

Our airport authorities, to their credit, have prepared for this peak season in travel by helping travelers get to the gates on time.

Filipinos love to travel, no doubt, but unfortunately, no matter how much we anticipate the hassle of leaving the Philippines and however efficient our airport authorities try to be during this busy travel season, there is one thing travelers cannot do away with and it’s eTravel or the so-called one-stop electronic travel declaration system (eTravel) for passengers leaving and entering the Philippines.

OFWs complain

I am writing about this because I received complaints from quite a number of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) either returning home or departing from the country after a quick vacation.

First of all, eTravel – despite its supposed good intentions – is another hassle for every departing and arriving passenger.

Allow me to list down these eTravel pains as experienced by some OFW friends and acquaintances whom I’ve had the chance to meet in the past and some on recent trips.

1. The eTravel app itself is not exactly the best mobile app to navigate. It has a lag and is inconsistent. Sometimes, while navigating it, it doesn’t work and you have to start again from the beginning to fill up the form.

2. While the eTravel app is intuitive for a lot of Filipinos, it is still impossible to navigate it for the technically-challenged citizens, including seniors or even those approaching senior years and to those who aren’t literate enough to use a mobile app. This is a harsh reality that exists in our country today. It is hilarious to think that every departing passenger can use a mobile app and fill up the form on his or her own. Many OFWs, especially those who are leaving the country for the first time, cannot do this.

3. One can register in the eTravel app 72 hours before departing which is good. One can do it at home or in the office where the more techie family members or colleagues can assist the departing or arriving passenger, but not every passenger is aware of this requirement.

Thus, those who find out about it only at the airport face the challenging task of filling up the form. Departing passengers can get assistance from airport staff as they click the many QR codes before entering the immigration area but the problem with this – and it’s another real problem – is that one, not every passenger has a smartphone and those who do sometimes don’t have data subscription. The WiFI in NAIA terminals is intermittent, too. If they are in airports abroad, which usually have internet connections, their problem is how to do it because nobody is there to assist them.

The solution is to have kiosks in NAIA and in every airport around the world to assist passengers – but that’s something that’s impossible for our government to do.

4. The eTravel form itself asks too many questions. If Immigration just wants our flight information, it should streamline the form. Some questions may no longer be necessary in this post-COVID-19 era. For instance, there are questions on whether one was recently sick or sickly. What happens to those who actually answered yes? Do our health authorities bother to get in touch with them?

5. Fulfilling this eTravel form – every time one travels to and from the Philippines – has become so complicated that there are actually groups, agents and individuals who offer to do it for our OFWs or departing passengers for a fee, which is of course an added cost. There are also fake eTravel websites which scam passengers.

These are just some of the complaints and issues raised by OFWs.

Bureau of Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco said eTravel strengthens border control services and results in a seamless travel experience for the public.

While assuming that it may have the best intentions, the eTravel app simply makes it difficult for travelers to enter and leave the Philippines in a breeze.

Last year, I even saw foreigners being scolded by airport staff because they don’t have their eTravel forms. This is really not a good way to welcome visitors and certainly not the best way to encourage them to Love the Philippines.

Oh and by the way, the Tourism segment of the app has nothing new to offer.

The app said it is revolutionary and it makes life and traveling seamless for Filipinos.

In reality, however, it doesn’t feel that way. I hope the government can improve it or, even better, do away with it altogether; even first world countries no longer have similar forms since the global health pandemic was declared over by the World Health Organization last year.

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Email: [email protected]. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter @eyesgonzales. Column archives at EyesWideOpen (Iris Gonzales) on Facebook.