OFW groups in UAE start drive to end travel restriction

Filipino groups in the United Arab Emirates have started a campaign to urge Philippine authorities to scrap a travel document they branded as money-making scheme. Representatives of 12 Filipino organizations trashed copies of the affidavit of support issued by the Philippine Consulate during a demonstration last Friday. During Friday's event, the groups under the Alliance of Overseas Filipino Workers Against AOS (affidavit of support) symbolically trashed copies of the document, which they called a form of "state extortion," news site Gulf News reported. "Even if the document is not a travel requirement of the UAE, the Philippine government continues to authenticate it because it is a money-making scheme for them. This not an answer to human trafficking, but is actually a systematic way of human trafficking as some immigration officers themselves act as agents of it," said Nel Morona, secretary-general of Migrante-UAE. The affidavit requires Filipinos who will be visiting their relatives in the UAE to present an attested guarantee letter before immigration authorities stationed in Philippine airports. The Philippine Embassy in Abu Dhabi and the Consulate in Dubai charge Dh100 (P1,184) for the attestation of an AOS. Filipinos are to present AOS before airport authorities as documentary proof that they will take care of the board and lodging and travel expenses of a relative they are sponsoring. But Philippine Consul General Benito Valeriano said their attestation of the AOS is a ministerial function that the Philippine mission is mandated to do. "The consulate is just a notary public here. We cannot refuse our compatriots who seek attestation if they think that it's needed. This matter should be addressed to the [authorities in Manila]. If they submit the petition here, I will endorse it to the Department of Justice in Manila," he said. Groups that oppose the measure include Migrante International-UAE, Gabriela-UAE, Samahang Kababayan Lingkod OFW, Lightform, Pilipino Nationalistic Association UAE, Impok Kapuso n Kapamilya at Kaibigan, Alpha Phi Omega, Filipino Digerati Association, Overseas Filipino Civil Engineers Association, and St. Mary's Filipino Community Choir. Unscrupulous immigration agents Earlier, some UAE-bound Filipinos claimed they were forced to bribe unscrupulous immigration officials at Manila's airports. They claimed the bribes ranged from P15,000 to P50,000, with the prospect of offloading as an alternative. Citing their travel agents, they said they had "no choice but to pay grease money." But BI spokesperson Atty Ma. Antonette Mangrobang told Gulf News they screen travelers holding visit or tourist visas because most of them are not really tourists, but are in search of jobs abroad bypassing government's regulatory procedures. "The best way to ensure that you will be able to depart is to be honest about your intentions to travel. No amount of documentation can help you if you are trying to deceive government that you are really there just for tourism purposes," she said. — LBG, GMA News