BI says more Chinese tourists allowed entry

The number of Chinese tourists being turned back at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) has significantly dropped since the Bureau of Immigration (BI) hired Chinese interpreters and translators to help local immigration officers.

A source at the BI port operations division based at the NAIA, who requested anonymity due to lack of authority to speak for the agency, said the number of excluded Chinese nationals from January to June this year declined by more than 20 percent, compared to those who were turned away from July to December last year.

The BI had announced it was hiring the Chinese interpreters in October last year to address the problem of miscommunication or a language barrier that immigration officers experience when interviewing Chinese tourists.

The inability of immigration officers to speak Chinese, and Chinese passengers to converse in English have resulted in the exclusion of these foreign visitors.

Under BI rules, an arriving foreigner may be referred by the immigration officer at the counter for secondary inspection if the latter has doubts about the passenger's purpose in coming to the country, or if the traveler presents questionable travel documents.

If the passenger fails to convince the immigration officer that he has valid reasons or purpose in coming to the Philippines, he will be issued an exclusion order and booked on the first available flight to his country of origin.

The high number of Chinese nationals excluded at the NAIA in previous had, however, drawn criticisms from many quarters who alleged that the practice had compromised the country's efforts to attract more foreign visitors.

It was only in December last year that 12 Chinese interpreters hired by the BI started reporting for duty in various shifts at terminals 1, 2 and 3 of the NAIA.