Sorry for the inquisition, Steve, but this is the first time I have heard of a westerner being coerced into handing over cash by an Immigration Officer at any airport in the Philippines. Filipinos yes, that used to be the national sport in Terminal 1 departures but was supposed to have been ended by Commissioner David. I take it you were travelling alone, without your wife. Her presence may have made that officer think twice as he would not wish to have any witnesses to his nefarious activity. Did he instruct you to conceal the money inside your Passport or within the folds of your ECC? That is the normal MO and they open the document so that the money falls into an open desk drawer. That's to prevent their crime being recorded by CCTV cameras. Mind you, you left from Terminal 1 which is under reconstruction and it's quite possible that the CCTV cameras weren't operating.
I wouldn't recommend that at all. You really do not want to make a government official lose face. He could simply destroy your Exit Clearance and tell you that you will have to obtain a new one from a regional office; that's if he's feeling generous. That would mean you'd lose your flight and probably incur a hefty rebooking fee or even have to pay the entire cost of a new ticket.
Exactly. And I didnt recommend that. So the scamming needs to stop to dispel the stigma that has been generated about this airport. Steve obviously believes it is alive and "well". It hasnt earned its perceived reputation for no reason.
Thanks for the reply Markham, I am certainly not the first westerner, I know a few ex pats in Manila who have also gone through this. Yes I was traveling alone like I have done on many other occasions, I guess that day, I was just unlucky. No the immigration did not ask me if I had money or how much I had and I am well aware of the scams, so I NEVER conceal money in my passport, My expat friends gave me the idea to keep my cash in a separate wallet. Lucky I followed their advice.
Nothing will be done unless and until one or more the victims is prepared to name names and be prepared to prosecute the official(s) concerned. Unsurprisingly nobody seems prepared to do that.
I can understand why people do not want to get involved in reporting immigration officials, it could all go very badly wrong for you especially in a place like the Philippines, when it comes to giving cash then there is no record of that transaction, your word against theirs. I remember one time when I was passing through immigration at Damascus airport, an immigration official stopped me seeing that I had money in my shirt pocket (must have seen it through the white shirt) and just took the few US dollars I had in it, he didn't say a word and neither did I, I just walked off towards the welcome sight of the departure lounge. In some countries you are not allowed to take their currency out of the country, in my case it was USD that I had to pay the departure tax so the officer shouldn't have taken the money from me. Does make me wonder how much money these people make as they must be doing things like this on a regular basis. As Mark says, this will continue until someone stands up to it, but it wont be me.
Yes. They pick on the vulnerable. That includes holiday makers. So unless it stops then it will deter those holiday makers that bring a bit of extra revenue into the country. Of course we could pretend it does not happen, but people see through that Bulldust.
It may only be small sums of money these people take from us but it sure leaves you with a sour taste in your mouth, reflects badly on the country when this sort of thing is going on at their National airports.
The airport's name was even changed to the name of the father of the current President of the Philippines, Ninoy Aquino International Airport It shows how much Noynoy values his father's name. Hahahahah...
Maybe one way of dealing with this type of extortion is to email customer services at Ninoy Airport giving the number of the officer who has commited the offence, at least this way they are made aware, I would have thought that they have some sort of complaints process there .................. I'm just being silly now, of course there isn't a complaints procedure at Ninoy airport
It would help or at least make you feel a little better about the rip off if you have reported it in some way, it beats any confrontation that could turn ugly at the airport. Suggestion box is another good idea, wouldn't mind reading the contents of that box if they had one at Ninoy, someone would probably nick the box anyway
P The problem is, the complaints procedure and customer service is a long drawn out process in the Philippines, court cases take years sometimes and its just not worth the hassle especially when you have to go to different offices, it can take ages just to go from one place to another due to the traffic, then when you get to where you want to be, endless lines of people. Even to pay a cheque into a bank can take ages, I have been in queues of people waiting in the bank for up to an hour sometimes
That was a long time ago that the name was changed, and they are renovating NAIA 1 just now albeit slowly, I doubt Noynoy can wave a magic wand and make it all better overnight, although it is getting close to the end of his term I suppose so maybe more should have happened earlier. And as I've always said NAIA 1 may well be a dump but it was a nice dump, I liked the place, I know everyone moans about it but I liked it and I missed the familiar old terminal when I arrived and departed this year from NAIA 3 NAIA 3, nothing special just a generic grey dull modern airport, where not one single departure board was working and my flight for the first time in years was nearly three hours late taking off
I don't know how they manage to run the banks, I waited 1 hour to make a cash deposit payment to an account at a UCPB branch in Alabang, they had a whole load of staff sitting there but only one girl on the cash receipts desk, and the people that were turning up to pay in were making transactions for 10 separate accounts at a time, about 30 people in the queue, 10 of them before me doing cash transactions, not only that but it had taken us 90 minutes to get from Las Pinas to Alabang as the traffic was unreal. How can anyone run a country like that, it is just insane!
You must be a patient chap Jim, I could never have waited that long, especially after the long journey you had.
I was paying for that villa I rented, so I had 11 other people looking forward to a nice weekend who I would have let down if I hadn't done it. More to the point was that the North African next door to Egypt (to the left ) owner of the villa didn't have something simple like a Paypal account, now would that not have been easy for him, maybe he was scared of charge-back's Actually he should have been scared of charge-backs as the description was poor!
I've flown into and out of the PI probably 200 times over the last 23 years, and never been asked for a single cent by immigration. Customs have charged me duties twice, and I deserved to pay it; I was bringing some car parts in, but they gave me a receipt and everything was done in full view, no down and dirty stuff in a dark corner. Last couple of years I've used Clark almost exclusively as I live but two miles from it. I have heard horror stories of guys being asked to turn out their pockets, or open wallets, by 'security' after they have left immigration, customs and security checkpoints, and having money confiscated, but I'm pretty sure they are either fairy stories, or there is a lot more to the situation than is revealed. And I've never been charged a 'tourist tax'. but then the longest I ever stayed in country was 12 weeks in one hit. I fly back and forth every five normally.