Bypassing Immigration on entering the Philippines

[banyanman]

My stepbrother from Darwin arrived on a PAL flight at NAIA yesterday, and as he had a connecting flight to Cebu, PAL transferred him and about 10 other passengers directly to the Cebu flight. His baggage was checked through to Cebu, so he assumed he would do immigration there as well as customs. But when they got to Cebu, all the passengers exited through the domestic terminal without going through Immigration or Customs. When he got to his hotel, and the receptionist was copying his passport, she asked which page his entry stamp was on. Of course, he didn't have one! I told him to go straight to the BIR today and get an entry stamp because he won't get out of the country without it. Has anyone else in Cebu had this experience, and can they tell me whether it was easy to sort out at the BIR?

[Jollygoodfellow]

WOW. That sounds like a stuff up. Once when I was enroute to Cebu we had a stop in Davao and were kept in an area of the airport but on arrival at Cebu we did the normal immigration thing. Let us know how this pans out for your brother. 

[Dave Hounddriver]

1 hour ago, banyanman said:

Has anyone else in Cebu had this experience, and can they tell me whether it was easy to sort out at the BIR?

I have not heard of it happening but I know that BI love paperwork so I would be sure he brought his boarding passes (into Manila and on to Cebu) along with his exit ticket when he went to BI to ask about it. Its not his screw up so I cannot imagine them being hard on him so long as he goes in right away.  If he is staying longer than 30 days he will need to do an extension anyway so he can sort it out and get his extension at the same time.

[Jack Peterson]

1 hour ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

I have not heard of it happening

 Just makes me wonder if Daviao is actually an International  Airport?

[Jollygoodfellow]

1 hour ago, Jack Peterson said:

 Just makes me wonder if Daviao is actually an International  Airport?

It was Manila and yes Davao is an international airport. 

[JJReyes]

The screw-up is by Philippine Airlines. Technically they are responsible, but this is the Philippines.

I once arrived in Manila and went through immigration. Customs processing was done in Cebu.

[jrlee183]

A few years back I landed in NAIA3 and they stamped my passport on arrival as usual.  Upon my departure the immigration officer started to give me grief that the date on the stamp was not clear enough to see the date of entry (obviously the officer who stamped my passport on entry hadn't 'inked' the stamp enough). 

Apparently that was totally all my fault and I should make sure it is stamped clearly next time.  Go figure!

[Dave Hounddriver]

26 minutes ago, jrlee183 said:

obviously the officer who stamped my passport on entry hadn't 'inked' the stamp enough

Possibly the same officer?  Maybe he does that on purpose to be a dick?

[Clermont]

34 minutes ago, jrlee183 said:

 

Apparently that was totally all my fault and I should make sure it is stamped clearly next time.  Go figure!

Yeah it is your fault sorry to say, can't produce links but it clearly states all stamping and dates must be legible for reading and passengers are advised to check before exiting immigration area. The wife checks ours before we leave the counter. 

[Freebie]

Once I passed immigration and waitied in lounge for a CX flight ot HK. But.. sorry sir all flights cancelled , please go home and return tomorrow. So we were escorted past immigration and passengers all went home. So what was interesting was that officially we had exited Philippines but hadnt left the country.

The next day of course it was madness trying to explain that to an immigration guy but a Cathay lady magically appeared and showed him the passenger manifest that showed I had left but hadn't -- if you know what i mean