SINGAPORE: Tan Kin Lian, the former CEO of NTUC Income and two-time presidential candidate, took to social media to express frustration over the process it takes to enter the Philippines.
Mr Tan is currently vacationing in Cebu, one of the country’s top provinces, and judging from the photos he has posted, he seems to be enjoying himself.
Earlier this week, however, he had some difficulty with the required eTravel registration that travellers to the Philippines need to fill out shortly before arrival.
Booking, Mr Tan wrote in an Aug 26 (Wednesday) Facebook post, had been no problem. However, the organiser of the trip he was to take asked him to register for his arrival via eTravel, which was implemented some years ago to take the place of written paper arrival cards, health check forms, and customs papers.
What gave him the trouble first appeared to be the required photo, which Mr Tan wrote needed to be less than 5MB. Unfortunately, the pictures in his gallery were “many times larger” than this size.
“The option of taking a live photo was not available. The camera was deactivated, and the AI did not provide any setting to activate it. This is ridiculous. I finally had to take a screenshot of a gallery photo to compress the image for uploading,” he wrote.
However, his problems did not stop there, as he added that the other parts of the form also gave him trouble, and it took him more than five attempts, an endeavour that took over half an hour just to receive the QR code that is sent when your eTravel registration has been completed.
However, to his surprise, the code was never asked for when he cleared immigration at the airport in Manila, where only his passport was asked for.
When he had gotten his luggage and gone through customs, his QR code was not asked for either, while he claimed nine other travellers had to do so.
“Why did the Philippine government forced (sic) visitors to waste over 30 minutes in completing an unnecessary e-travel form?” he asked.
Mr Tan’s post has gotten some traction, with some commenters, including former Nominated Member of Parliament Calvin Cheng, agreeing with him.
“I travelled to Manila recently too. It’s a ridiculously difficult form to fill in and then gives u a QR code that nobody even asks for, but it’s the Philippines,” Mr Cheng wrote.
Others, however, explained that the code is linked to a traveller’s passport. When the information they submitted has been reviewed and deemed complete, they can simply proceed.
“eTravel is similar to SG Arrival Card. No need to show QR code as the information is linked to immigration and customs system,” wrote a Facebook user.
“It’s linked to your passport number, sir; they will definitely know at Immi if you didn’t complete it,” added another.
“A simple research could easily answer your questions rather than complaining in your post,” commented a third. /TISG
Read also: Tan Kin Lian argues with commenters after asking why foreign workers are cutting grass in Singapore
