MANILA – The authorities in the Philippines have issued clarification regarding the documents needed for flying amid an uproar on the earlier communication.
Government officials issued an apology and a clarification on Friday that there is nothing to worry about the documents needed to travel as nothing has changed in this regard.
The confusion regarding the documents erupted when the Inter-Agency Council Against Human Trafficking (Iacat) issued the guidelines to curb illegal recruitment and fight trafficking; however, it caused more confusion than clarity.
The authority listed all the documents that a traveler may have to present when flying out but it has been clarified now that the revised guidelines are actually just a “clarification” of existing rules.
“More than 95 percent of departing Filipinos would not need to present more documents apart from the basic ones,” Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla was quoted as saying.
The Bureau of Immigration (BI) also assured travelers that “it will not require more travel documents”, easing thousands of travelers who were earlier worried over the guidelines.
According to the fresh circular, the basic travel documents include a valid passport, valid visa, boarding pass, and confirmed return or roundtrip ticket, if necessary. Moreover, overseas Filipino workers will have to secure a clearance or OEC, Khaleej Times reported.
“In essence, it’s really more of streamlining the requirements for departing Filipinos and (to clarify to our fellow Filipinos the requirements per category needed for departure in the country),” said BI spokesperson Dana Sandoval in a report published in the state-run Philippine News Agency (PNA).
Despite the clarification, the Department of Justice (DoJ) admitted that there had been a lapse in how the guidelines were communicated.
“Apologies are in order. Our communications on these new guidelines weren’t right,” DoJ spokesperson Mico Clavano told local media and said the rules are, in fact, the same as the previous guidelines released in 2015.
Another officer said in a separate interview that if immigration officers see no red flags in a traveler’s trip, additional documents will not be required.
