MANILA -- A total of 180 foreigners were barred from entering the country in 2019 for being rude and disrespectful to Bureau of Immigration (BI) officers in different airports in the country.
In a statement on Friday, Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente said last year’s figures were slightly higher than the 133 foreigners who were barred in 2018.
In 2017, a total of 129 undesirable foreigners were turned back.
Morente said aside from being returned to their port of origin, the discourteous aliens were also blacklisted and banned from entering the country for being undesirable.
“We thus reiterate our warning to foreigners intending to visit the Philippines that they should refrain from exhibiting bad behavior that would make them undeserving to enter our country,” he said.
Such policy is grounded under a memorandum order that former BI Commissioner Andrea Domingo issued on Mar. 29, 2001, which provides not only for the exclusion of a disrespectful foreign passenger but also his inclusion on the immigration blacklist.
Morente added that while the officers have been instructed to observe maximum tolerance, physical and verbal abuse will not be tolerated.
Statistics from the BI’s airport operations section showed that the rude aliens consisted of 63 Chinese nationals, followed by 23 Koreans, 10 Americans, nine Japanese, eight Australians, and five Britons.
Included on the list are four Malaysians, four New Zealanders, four Saudi nationals, four Singaporeans, four Vietnamese, three Germans, three Hong Kong residents, three Israelis, and three Swiss nationals.
Also, barred last year were two Belgians, Canadians, Czech nationals, Egyptians, Irish nationals, Ivoirians, Kuwaitis and Polish nationals.
One each from Austria, Bangladesh, Colombia, Ecuador, India, Indonesia, Italy, Jamaica, Oman, Russia, Taiwanese, Turkey, Vanuatu and Yemen were also turned back.
Meanwhile, BI port operations division chief Grifton Medina said majority of the rude foreigners were turned away at the international airports in Manila and Mactan, Cebu.
He added that some of the passengers were drunk, rowdy, and unruly when they presented themselves for primary inspection to immigration officers.
“Others, although sober, were arrogant and discourteous. They would shout expletives, and would even make derogatory statements about Filipinos or the country,” Medina said.
He added that the entry and stay of foreigners is only a privilege, not a right so foreign visitors should not verbally abuse or disrespect immigration officers and other symbols of the Philippines upon arriving in any of the country’s ports of entry. (PNA)
