A Senate bill has been filed seeking to reimburse Filipino passengers who are offloaded due to unjustified or prolonged pre-departure procedures by the Bureau of Immigration (BI).
Sen. Raffy Tulfo filed Senate Bill No. 1657, also known as the proposed Passenger Protection and Reimbursement for Deferred Departures Act, after receiving complaints from passengers who reportedly missed flights due to alleged inconsistent assessment standards. Most of the complainants said they were given no clear reason for being offloaded.
“Prolonged immigration interviews which are usually conducted in the context of anti-trafficking efforts have, in certain instances, resulted in Filipino passengers missing their scheduled flights despite the absence of a formal court order directing their deferment or denial of departure. Thus, affected passengers are forced to shoulder additional travel expenses even though they are not at fault,” Tulfo, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Public Services, said.
He added that while the government recognizes the BI’s role in enforcing immigration laws and anti-trafficking measures, it is also important to protect passengers from unnecessary financial burdens.
SB 1657 aims to establish clear, uniform, and transparent reimbursement rules, building on a 2024 General Appropriations Act provision under the Department of Justice–Bureau of Immigration that allows travel expenses of passengers deferred or offloaded without a court order to be charged to the Special Trust Fund Account.
Reimbursement, however, will not cover passengers offloaded for lacking proper travel documents, government personnel, those with existing court orders, individuals with fake or altered documents, suspected trafficking victims, or those flagged as potential illegal recruiters or traffickers under Republic Act No. 9208.
Claims will be received and reviewed by the BI’s International Port of Entry and Exit Management Office at the airport or seaport where the passenger was deferred, then endorsed to the Department of Justice–Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) for final determination, Tulfo said.
