THE Senate expressed gratitude for the recent announcement of the Inter-Agency Council Trafficking (IACAT) to suspend implementation of the revised IACAT travel guidelines

Calling it reasonable enough, Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva said they are thankful for the IACAT heeding to their request to suspend the implementation of their controversial guidelines.

“We thank the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) for heeding our call to suspend the implementation of the revised IACAT travel guidelines,” Villanueva said.

But at the same time, Villanueva said they will still appeal that these guidelines be changed.

“Our position remains. The revised IACAT travel guidelines are unreasonable, prone to abuse and misplaced. The government should not put the burden on our kababayans but instead strengthen their programs against trafficking,” Villanueva said.

Earlier, several senators tagged the IACAT guidelines as foul and unreasonable.

In his privilege speech, Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri urged the Bureau of Immigration and IACAT to find better and more efficient immigration strategies to protect Filipinos without impairing their constitutional right to travel.

“They don’t become victims once they arrive abroad. They become victims as soon as these recruiters prey on them right here on our shores,” the senator said.

Crossing party lines, the Senate unanimously approved a resolution calling for the suspension and review of the IACAT travel guidelines.

Villanueva said there is a need to review the new set of guidelines, citing a Filipino traveler who was unable to board her flight to Israel due to a lengthy interview at the Bureau of Immigration (BI) counter and for allegedly being unable to present her yearbook.

Villanueva said the traveler has to shell out P27,000 for a new ticket to rebook her flight.

The majority leader also cited a data from the BI showing that last year, out of the 32,404 Filipinos whose departure was deferred, only 472 or 1.46 percent were found to be victims of human trafficking.

“We understand that the IACAT’s intent in the issuance of the guidelines is to mitigate trafficking. But imagine the possibility of offloading 98.54 percent of Filipinos? Hindi po ito (this is not a) ‘margin of error,’” he added.

Sen. Pia Cayetano criticizes the IACAT guidelines as she explained that the requirements will curtail the constitutional rights of every Filipino to travel and the opportunity to be reunited with their relatives abroad.

“Are there any more effective ways to protect our women or children? Because let’s not be misquoted, every single person here in this hall will agree that we want to protect the most vulnerable.

Let us agree that is a good objective… But the manner of implementing this does not seem to be aligned or does not seem to be the most effective way to protect the most vulnerable,” Cayetano said.