Travel Caution: Filipino Passport Holders Traveling Outside the Philippines

Caution in Traveling
Caution in Traveling

Not long ago, two Filipina fellow travel blogger friends went on a separate vacation trip outside of the Philippines. But the supposed leisure tour turned into a traumatic nightmare when they were held in the immigration offices of the respective Southeast Asian countries they went to under the insinuation that they were alleged drug traffickers.

Aside from the fact that I personally know that they are not in such trade, they were presumably held under such “random” investigation because of their Filipino passports.

Check out their personal accounts of their story here:

Last weekend, broadcast media was also able to pick up their story from an uproar in social media forums on the Internet. Here is the recording of the show:

As much as immigration offices might deny, such aggressive stance and racial profiling by neighboring countries might be a result of recent news developments where Filipinos were involved in drug trafficking cases. It is indeed sad news.

So what can we do?

For the common and innocent travelers like us, let us always remember to be calm during such instances, and demand that we call our local embassy to inform them that we are currently being investigated. I think that is one of the most important advise in the GMA show video above. Be safe in our travels as much as we want to enjoy it. 🙂

7 thoughts on “Travel Caution: Filipino Passport Holders Traveling Outside the Philippines

  1. yan din gagawin ko pag ginawa nila sakin-ttatawag kagad ako sa embassy. pero for the meantime its my decision to travel inside the country muna. better be safe than sorry.awts

  2. Thanks for sharing this info. We are scheduled to travel to HK few weeks from now. Hopefully everything will be fine, but this is good reminder just in case.

  3. ..”Indonesian Ambassador Kristiarto Soeryo Legowo emphasized that the incident DOES NOT REFLECT THE POLICY OF INDONESIA, particularly “racial/ethnic profiling and stereotyping”. He requested that the Department convey to the 2 ladies the assurance that Indonesia is SERIOUSLY FOLLOWING UP THE MATTER with its concerned authorities…”

    scanned letter: http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5261/5884466426_9f24d6d5e5_b.jpg

    being a victim is a choice, and i chose not to be one..

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