The Bureau of Immigration has relieved the officer who allegedly asked a passenger to show her yearbook that led to the latter missing her flight to Israel according to BI Spokesperson Dana Sandoval.
“Because of this incident, he has been relieved from his post. So he has been reassigned to a back-end office as a result of this incident,” Sandoval said in an interview on CNN Philippines.
Cham Tanteras went viral last week after she posted her experience on Tiktok about the lengthy interview of the Immigration officer that caused her to miss her flight last December.
Sandoval said that the officer denied requesting Tanteras’ yearbook.
“When the officer described the incident, he described it as just a regular secondary inspection, similar to what he does every day,” she said.
Sandoval said that there was also a ‘lack of communication’ between the officer and the passenger.
“Wherein he might not have been able to explain properly to the passenger what just happened and why were additional questions being asked, why was she undergoing secondary inspection. That’s why there was a misunderstanding on what was happening,” she said.
Sandoval also reiterated that yearbooks, diplomas and graduation photos are not required when traveling.
Sandoval added that questions about the marital status of parents are not usual questions.
“So this is also one of the things that we are looking into as to why these questions have been asked by the Immigration officer when in fact they do not have any bearing on the circumstances of the travel,” she added.
The BI said that they have released a memorandum prohibiting officers from getting a passenger’s phone.
“But without their consent, if they are refusing to show these e-documents… then our officers are not allowed to get these from the passenger,” she said.
