New departure guidelines of the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) were made for “streamlining” the requirements of Filipinos who will be traveling overseas, Bureau of Immigration spokesperson Dana Sandoval said Thursday.

The new guidelines will be implemented on September 3.

“In essence, it’s really made for the streamlining of the requirements for departing Filipinos so that it will be clear to them what documents they need to submit for each category that will help prevent them from becoming victims of the human trafficking,” Sandoval said at the “Laging Handa” briefing.

She maintained that passengers whose trips are sponsored by relatives do not need to bring a yearbook or diploma to prove their educational attainment.

This is in relation to an incident where a passenger missed her flight after allegedly being asked by an immigration officer to validate her educational background by presenting a yearbook photo.

“What the immigration officers are looking at are the local ties of the sponsor to the person in the Philippines, if their purpose of travel is legitimate, and their financial capacity to sustain themselves while traveling abroad, not their diplomas and togas,” Sandoval said.

“Sometimes immigration officers ask for additional IDs from the regular tourists,” she added.

“If the immigration officers can see that their travel is legitimate and the person isn’t lying or hiding anything, then there won’t be any problems. What we are looking at is the purpose of travel in connection to the documents presented,” she said.

Sandoval said the BI is working closely with IACAT, which is actively filing cases against illegal recruiters. Jaspearl Tan/DMS