From UNTV News & Rescue (Nov 8, 2019): PH resumes stamping on Chinese passports with nine-dash line map
MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Immigration (BI) on Wednesday (November 6) announced that it will resume stamping of Philippine visa on Chinese regular e-passports.
“We support this policy update of the DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs),” BI Commissioner Jaime H. Morente said in a statement.
The BI stopped stamping visas directly on Chinese passports in 2012 under the administration of former President Benigno Aquino III in protest to the map of China imprinted on it which shows China’s aggressive claims over the South China Sea using the undefined demarcation line referred to as the “nine-dash line” that encompasses the contested territories such as the Spratly Islands and the Scarborough Shoal.
This claim was invalidated in 2016 by the Permanent Court of Arbitration saying it has no legal basis.
But China has never accepted the international court’s ruling in favor of the Philippines but instead, carried on with its reclamation activities in the disputed territories.
The practice of using a separate sheet for Chinese travelers came after a month-long standoff between Chinese and Philippine vessels in the Scarborough Shoal in that same year.
In a memorandum issued by Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente, immigration officers are instructed to affix their stamps adjacent to the Philippine visa of a regular e-passport presented by a Chinese passenger in compliance with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) foreign service circular.
This change in policy, Morente said, will address security concerns associated with stamping Philippine visas on a separate paper.
“We support this policy update of the DFA,” said Morente.
“In the past, we have also expressed security concerns over the old practice because sheets of papers can easily be lost,” he added.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.