Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 31) — Big business groups have decried the tighter immigration checks — which the Department of Justice halted on Thursday — as running counter to efforts to make doing business in the Philippines friendlier to investors.
The suspended revised guidelines issued by the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking also covered intra-and-inter-company trainees, or company employees who will be trained abroad – whether by the mother company, affiliate or subsidiary, or a foreign sponsor.
On top of the passport and visa, immigration officers will require trainees to show proof of local employment that’s certified by the Department of Labor and Employment, plus a “traineeship agreement” authenticated by the Philippine embassy or consulate where the overseas training will be conducted.
Those documents will be cumbersome, especially for manufacturers who often send their engineers for skills upgrade, said the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI).
If the sponsoring company’s headquarters or training location is far from the Philippine embassy or consulate, that will be an added logistics cost for Philippine employers.
“Checking and validating of travelers is added bureaucracy. And we know very well that airport operation is challenged by the fact that our immigration booth is quite limited and very often we can see long queues. That doesn’t look well for travelers, even foreigners. The airport is one of the first things they see,” said PCCI President George Barcelon.
Meanwhile, steelmakers said the stricter border controls would hurt efforts to boost competitiveness and would make it costly for companies to train people overseas.
Big companies send workers abroad for training or for onsite check of facilities of suppliers almost every month, the Philippine Steelmakers Association noted.
