Foreign visitors are rarely knowledgeable about the laws of the country they are visiting, or about the processes for filing a complaint in case they become victims of abuses or crime. Tourists normally don’t have time to pursue complaints in the places that they visit.
These must be among the reasons why there have been numerous reports for many years now about foreigners becoming victims of extortion – by police, or by personnel at airports and the Bureau of Immigration.
The latest case involves 15 South Koreans, who were reportedly threatened with detention for overstaying unless they paid grease money to Bureau of Immigration personnel who apprehended them in Angeles City, Pampanga on March 6. The Koreans allegedly coughed out from P280,000 to P1 million each to the BI extortionists, for a total of P9.4 million.
South Korea has consistently ranked as the Philippines’ No. 1 source of foreign tourists, accounting for about a fifth of annual arrivals for several years now. Remembering how Filipinos fought with them in the war against the north, South Koreans have also provided significant amounts of official development assistance to the Philippines. Foreign visitors must comply with the laws of the host country. But extortion by Philippine government personnel obviously erodes bilateral goodwill.
Fortunately, the government has acted quickly and identified 18 immigration agents tagged in the alleged extortion. President Duterte himself reportedly ordered the suspension of the BI personnel, 10 of them regular employees and the eight holding “job order” or confidential positions. Apart from administrative sanctions, the 18 may also face criminal charges, with the National Bureau of Investigation conducting its own probe.
The BI has been rocked by other extortion scandals in the past, as well as cases of foreigners being allowed to leave the country even if they are facing criminal charges here including drug trafficking. Red tape, which opens opportunities for grease money, is a common complaint in the BI. This latest case involving the South Koreans should lead to a thorough housecleaning in the bureau.