Immigration to stop using ‘Dra. Belo’ airport cards

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) on Thursday said it will be terminating the services of a private contractor that included an advertisement of the Belo Medical Group in its printed arrival and departure cards routinely given to airline passengers. Immigration Officer-In-Charge Ronaldo Ledesma said the cards, which double as discount coupons, will likewise be recalled because they were put in circulation without first getting the agency’s approval.

The card, which features popular celebrity dermatologist Dr. Vicky Belo, was produced by private contractor e.Xtend Inc., which has an office along Kamias Road in Quezon City. "Gumawa po ng mga cards na walang consultation and approval namin kaya pinatigil ko na po ang paggamit," Ledesma told GMANews.TV in an interview. (I have ordered the use of the cards to stop because they were produced without consulting us and getting our approval.) He said he has nothing against the celebrity dermatologist's picture being printed on the cards, but stressed that the BI should have been consulted first. "I have already recommended the termination of their services to us," Ledesma said. He added the private firm "has been giving the Bureau of Immigration a headache in the last few months" after the latter on two occasions failed to hold consultations with the agency regarding the printing of the cards, as required in their contract. The Ninoy Aquino International Airport's (NAIA) Airport Operations Council has been in charge of printing the cards in the past two decades, until the job was contracted out in May 2009 to Extend Inc., a private firm, under the administration of then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Under the agreement, Extend Inc. was to print the cards free of charge, on condition that the government will provide encoders for the project and that the firm will have a free hand in choosing what advertisements to place on them. The government ended up hiring over 1,000 confidential agents for encoding data from the cards. "So you see, we really didn't get the deal for free. We are also losing money from this. Tapos, ganito gagawin nila (And then they do this)," Ledesma said. Ledesma said his office still has "millions of copies" or a week's supply of the cards with the Belo ad, but added it does not intend to continue using them. Unique idea GMANews.TV tried to reach the Belo Medical Group for comment but its marketing officials were not immediately available. However, Belo, in a GMA News 24 Oras report Thursday night, said they decided to place ads on arrival and departure cards because of its cheap cost. "Most of the Belo way of advertising and promotin is really non-traditional so I think it was a nice, unique idea," she said. "But I never thought it would be controversial," Belo added. With the recall of the cards, the airport will be reverting back to the original cards that only feature ads with small logos. "Balik po kami sa dating mga card na issued ng Airline Operators Council na simple ang design at maliit ang logo ng ads," Ledesma said. (We’re going back to the former cards issued by the Airline Operators Council, with a simple design and small logos for ads.) The immigration official said the previous version of the departure and arrival cards still followed immigration and tourism standards. Earlier, upon orders of President Benigno Aquino III, the BI also ordered the pullout of departure and arrival cards bearing the President’s picture. Aquino noticed the cards with his picture when he boarded a plane en route to the United States last month for the United Nations General Assembly.—JV, GMANews.TV