Peguam Rave Bersuara

Official statement from our lawyer, Atty. Mhe-Anne Ojeda-Isidro regarding the offloading incident that happened last April 3,2015.

“As a former officer of the Bureau of Immigration myself, I understand that the Immigration Officers at the airport have to implement strictly the guidelines issued by the Inter Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT). But what exactly is the Guidelines? Under the guidelines, travelers are categorized according to purpose, (and not according to “visas”) whether tourist / temporary visitors, OFWs, Immigrants, etc. to ensure that the travelers would not be victims of human trafficking, illegal recruitmenbt and other related offenses. The requirements to be asked from travelers during primary inspection (and in some instances secondary inspection) are also based on their respective purposes. The “visa” the foreign bound passengers are holding is only a guide to determine if their purpose is consistent with the said visa. For Team Rave members, They are there to compete and that matches with their E-6 visa. That does not make them OFWs.

Specifically, Marc, Djardel and Ryo were issued an E-6-3 Korean visa (a visa for other artistic pursuits like cyber games) where the only requirement is an invitation letter from the Ministry of Culture, unlike the E-6-1 and E-6-2 visas which require a work contract or an employer to sponsor the visa. Thus, E-6-3 Korean visa holders are not workers. They have no employers and they have no salaries. Clearly they do not fall under the term OFWs which are Filipino employees working abroad pursuant to a work contract. To be an employee, one must be hired (by an employer), with a salary, and the employer has control over the means or manner the work is carried out.

This is not the case for Team Rave. They have no employer that hired them or that is controlling the manner they do their cyber gaming and they have no salaries, just prize money. Their gaming house where they are staying is being rented by all of them equally and paid for out of their own pockets and from their prize money if they win tourneys. They pay for their foods and all expenses for their travels. As cyber athletes, the Team Rave members can either have a C-3 tourist visa if their stay in Korea is for less than 90 days or an E-6-3 if they desire to stay is for 91 days or longer. The employment document they mentioned to the Bureau of Immigration after they were “pulled out from their planes” is a simple document for the purpose of justifying their longer stay in Korea and be entitled to an E-6-3 visa.

With due respect, I believe that the Bureau of Immigration officer went overboard in the guise of implementing the IACAT Guidelines. Not clearing the Team Rave for departure during Primary or Secondary inspection is one thing, but stopping them to board their planes or pulling them out from their seats on the plane after another Immigration Officer have previously cleared them for departure is a totally different story. The Bureau of Immigration Officers who ordered their “removal” have violated the Rave Team's constitutional right to travel, and have not acted with justice in the performance of their duties.

The Constitution provides “Neither shall the right to travel be impaired except in the interest of national security, public safety, or public health”. Therefore, the right to travel is a constitutionally protected right, a fundamental right which means that if there’s any doubt if a citizen can travel or not, the doubt must be resolved in favor of the citizen. “

-hoff

#tickers #rave #dota2 #visa