DFA visa mess

EDITORIAL

President Aquino should question Department of Foreign Affairs Sec. del Rosario on his reported refusal to look into the extortion of overseas Filipino workers to facilitate foreign visas.

Reports have it that the foreign diplomatic community had repeatedly requested del Rosario for an audience to investigate the role of top DFA officials in formally lobbying foreign embassies to issue visas to would-be TNTs (tago ng tago in Tagalog to mean hide and hide.)

But then, del Rosario “categorically refused to listen to these complaints directly from the foreign embassies.” Now pundits are asking if he is shielding top DFA officials and his role in the alleged anomalies.

Here is the modus operandi according to squealers:

Prospective OFWs wanting to go to Europe, but without a working visa, have to dip into family resources (borrow, mortgage or sell properties, or otherwise) to get a visa. The amount involved, according to the foreign diplomatic community, is in excess of Euro 10,000.

Top DFA officials would officially write the foreign office concerned to approve the visas applied for. If the would-be OFWs get their visas, they disappear into the horizon and do not return to the Philippines.

If the foreign office turns down the applications, that foreign office would get a telephone call threatening that the embassy would be reported to the media for unfair labor practices relative to Filipino employees or some other issues -- which are untrue.

In a specific case, a foreign embassy has reportedly suspended its officer in charge of processing visas. This officer is now under investigation. According to pundits, if del Rosario is not involved in the extortion scandal, why has he refused to listen to the foreign diplomatic community?