According to reports made by Facebook users, ‘Glorious’ star Tony Labrusca made a scene at airport immigration when trying to enter the Philippines. After being given a 30-day stay, he is said to have made an outburst, perhaps expecting more leniency for his Visa.
In a now-deleted tweet made by the actor, he writes: “Just landed in Manila and the Philippine immigration only gave me 30 days here. LOL. k”.
In reaction to the situation, there were posts allegedly made by immigration officers detailing what happened. The post states:
“You don’t have a Philippine passport, not even born in the Philippines, and not traveling with Filipino parents, but you want the same privilege as the other former Filipinos. You even have the audacity to shout and curse at my supervisor, bragging that you’re a celebrity. [You’re great at making a scene, you weren’t even embarrassed by the people around you. You kept shouting at the officers.] Boo! The funny thing is, you were so proud to brag that you work here when you’re only supposed to be a tourist here in the Philippines […] For your info, Balikbayan visa is not a working visa.”
However, this post has either been made private or deleted, and we were unable to verify if they truly did come from a witness.
The Bureau of Immigration then released a statement on the “Public Scope of Balikbayan Privilege”. It withheld from naming particular individuals and instead referred to “an unnamed budding local celebrity, who was reported to have had an outburst in the immigration area of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1 last 03 January 2019.” This celebrity is said to have “shouted expletives when he was only given a 30-day stay. He was allegedly furious at immigration for “giving him a hard time despite him being a celebrity with people wanting to take pictures with him”.”
In response to the said situation, the Bureau of Immigrations Commissioner stated the following: “Under Republic Act No. 6768, the 1-year Balikbayan visa privilege is exclusively given to former Filipinos naturalized abroad, and their spouse and children who are traveling with them.” Immigration Spokesperson Dana Krizia Sandoval further clarified this by saying: “The privilege is for former Filipinos and their immediate family members who are traveling with them only. If these family members are not traveling with the Filipino or former Filipino, they are not qualified for the one-year visa-free privilege.”
https://www.facebook.com/immigration.helpline.ph/posts/779398335748417
Where do you stand on this issue? Let us know in the comments below!
