ROXAS HITS NEW IMMIGRATION BUREAU ORDER
SAYS RELAXED TOURIST VISA POLICY HAMPERS ANTI-TERROR DRIVE

Senator Mar Roxas called on the Bureau of Immigration to review a recent order that allows foreigners to extend their temporary visitors visas up to 16 months, saying this could militate against the government's crackdown on terrorism and transnational crimes.

The Bureau's Memorandum Order, dated and made effective July 31, is intended to further promote tourism in the country, according to Commissioner Marcelino Libanan.

"We support the tourism campaign, but we must be mindful that too much leniency prejudices our national security," Roxas said, recalling that global terrorist attacks such as 9/11 were reportedly hatched by foreign nationals in the Philippines as early as 1973.

According to the order, foreign nationals may extend their stay in the Philippines every two (2) months for up to 16 months without going through a process of approval.

Roxas pointed out the irony in granting foreigners unhampered and therefore unaccountable freedom to stay in the country for more than a year while government wields the Human Security Act like a sword of Damocles on its people.

He said, "It's not enough to just attract tourists, we also need to determine their intentions and whereabouts; and the government is able to keep track of them whenever they apply for an extension of visa.

"By allowing them to stay for sixteen months in the country undetected and therefore unaccountable, we weaken our defenses against global threats to Filipinos," he added.

He added that illegals were also competing with the people's enterprises in some areas of the country.

"Sometimes they are right in the Palengke," he said.

"I recall that the BID made it clear that countless foreign nationals were overstaying. Should we now, as a matter of policy, legitimize these overstaying foreigners, some of who have even managed to set up small businesses in the countryside, by declaring them almost as perpetual tourists?"

The senator said that immigration policies should also be attuned to global imperatives that are also a domestic concern such as the campaign against terror, human trafficking, drugs and transnational crimes.

He noted efforts around the world to shore up defenses against terrorists and transnational criminal syndicates through immigration reforms and better security and intelligence efforts.

According to the senator, it is best to modernize and strengthen the BID and other frontline agencies that deal with tourists and foreign investors before government loosens its grip on tourist arrivals.

"I am willing to work together with Commissioner Libanan in pushing for reforms in light of our outdated immigration laws. Meanwhile, let us balance our zeal in boosting tourism with the overwhelming need to strengthen public safety.

The Liberal Party solon voted against passage of the Human Security Act, previously known as the anti-terror bill. He said basic steps to enhance government's intelligence capabilities must be taken by the government before it even considers escalating strictures on civil liberties in the name of national security.