Filipinos to receive help with airport bribery attempts

DUBAI // Filipino community leaders have offered to help their countrymen who are forced to pay bribes to corrupt officials at Manila airport before being allowed to travel to the UAE.

Officials from the umbrella group Filipino Community in Dubai and the Northern Emirates (Filcom DNE) will accompany victims to the Philippine consulate in Dubai to register a complaint, Alan Bacason, the president of the organisation’s governing council, said yesterday.

As evidence, all they would need is their boarding pass, and the exit stamp on their passport that shows the control number and initials or signature of the Bureau of Immigration officer at the airport.

The offer of help is the latest move in a dispute over affidavits of support and guarantees from sponsors, which Filipinos often present at Manila airport in the mistaken belief that it is required to support their claim to be visiting a relative in the UAE.

In fact, corrupt officals often allege that the documents are fake, and then demand payment before allowing travellers to fly. Some Filipinos have given in to extortion attempts of up to 30,000 Philippine pesos (Dh2,500).

Jojo Cardel, a representative of the Bicol Anom community group, said his cousin had been intercepted by immigration officers at Manila airport after presenting an affidavit of support in February.

“She later gave 7,000 pesos at the airport and was allowed to leave,” he said. “I don’t think it’s fair.”

Most Filipinos want the affidavits to be scrapped but a controversial protest in Dubai last Friday has exposed a rift in their community groups over how best to achieve that.

Leaders of 12 groups, including Migrante-UAE, crumpled copies of the affidavit of support and dumped them in a bin as they launched a petition calling for it to be scrapped. They claim it imposes unfair costs on people who pay Dh100 to the Philippine embassy and consulate in the UAE to have it attested.

“Issues should be handled with proper perspective, a legitimate channel acceptable by the Philippine consulate and the government of Dubai,” Mr Bacason said.

“What they did was a deliberate attempt to attack the Philippine government,” said Benito Valeriano, the consul general in Dubai. “They did not give a chance for the government to explain its side.”

He said victims should file a complaint at the consulate. “We need to have some basis so authorities can trace who is responsible,” he said. “Officials will investigate the allegations and look at the evidence before these are forwarded to the proper court of law.”

Nine Filipino community groups support calls to scrap the affidavit, but three others in the signature campaign have now denied being members of the Migrante-led alliance.

“They shouldn’t have crumpled copies of the affidavit,” said Rey Tenerife, 52, of Impok Kapuso Kapamilya at Kaibigan.

Nicasio Atienza, 43, vice-president of Alpha Phi Omega’s Dubai chapter, said: “It’s so simple. We need to scrap the document since it has become a source of corruption in the Philippines.”

Yuri Cipriano, chairman of Migrante-UAE, said the groups would continue to gather signatures.

“We still want the affidavit to be scrapped,” he said. “The advice [from the consul] won’t stop extortion in the Philippines.”

rruiz@thenational.ae