acts29

I'm posting this up because I'm sick of the biasness and unprofessional standards of the Philippines Immigration Officers.

This evening 21 year old Joannie was supposed to board a Cebu Pacific flight and head to Singapore for 3 weeks. She was supposed to share about her life with CHIJ students, youths from Church of St Ignatius and also to thank all our sponsors at our Easter Thank You Tea this Sunday.  She also brought along her books because she wanted to get the help she needed in English and Maths so that when she started Year 4 High School, she would be ready.

However, she was not allowed on board the flight as the Philippines immigration officers refused to allow her on. She had a return ticket, money for the trip, address where she would stay, Singaporean contacts. This is not the first time we've hosted guests from the Philippines.

She was accused of having alternative motives, to want to run off to Singapore and not return.
Someone on scholarship, an excellent student in Year 3 high school. Someone who wants to help her community and has dreams of going to college and getting her degree.

Yup, the officers were biased. They looked at her, judged her and sent her home.

So this is just a shout out about how bias people can be, especially immigration officers from the Philippines. We've come in and out of the country so often that we've met officers that just are not up to par. Never mind when they helped themselves to one of our cell phones. Never mind they are rude to their own OFWs returning. Never mind, they play catching and pull each other's hair and joke around while on duty. Yes, there are people who would want to stay on in Singapore illegally or to seek work. But not all Filipinos are like that.

So because they were not quite impressed with her background, the immigration officers felt she was not good enough to board the flight. Sad. very sad.