Based on my journal entry dated January 22, 2011
I was on my way to New Delhi, India via Bangkok, Thailand for a 5-month long training and who would have thought that I would have another of those horrible experiences at NAIA. The queue was so long at the check in counters and the airport was crowded as usual. I prayed that immigration won't give me a hard time this time. Everything went well in the beginning. I was able to check in my sleeping bag at the last minute as my roller bag weighed only 18 kilos. The lady at the immigration counter also breezed me through this time, no questions asked and I felt pretty relaxed walking towards the waiting gate. Normally, once you've passed through immigration, that was it. You can put away all your other documents except for your boarding pass and you can look forward to a restful time texting friends goodbye and finishing the load on your phone while waiting for your flight. However, that day was different. Just outside the waiting gate, there was a military officer and he was double checking passports, return tickets, and other documents.
I didn't think there was anything for me to worry about but when this guy (and he was big and tall and stern-looking) looked at my passport, he saw all my visas and stamps on previous trips and he went through them one by one. He got to last year's Indian visa and he started looking all over for my exit stamp which he could not find. He was very rude and started threatening me that he won't let me leave until I show him my exit stamp to prove to him that I am really a "tourist" as I say, and not something else. I was still a bit calm that time but for the life of me, I also could not find the exit stamp and no wonder because there were too many stamps on my passport! I tried to explain to him that I went back to Nepal from India and I traveled overland across the border but he wasn't listening to me. He shoved a form at me and told me to fill it out. It was a form with questions like what company I work for, how much cash I have on me, sponsors names, etc. At the same time, he was asking me to show him my IDs and so I showed him my PRC teacher's license and other IDs and finally, he asked me to show him my cash on hand and bank cards. That was when I began to shake in my anger at being harassed by someone who is supposed to be a defender and protector of his own countrymen! I wanted to scream at him because he kept saying to me that he won't let me go over and over again. He was also rude at some others, who were on their way to the gate, asking for their return tickets and all but he had his eye especially on me as if he had already decided to pick on me for that day.
I started praying under my breath while I was filling out the form but then I suddenly found myself pull together and I felt divine strength mixed with righteous anger rise up within me. I stopped filling out the form, looked him in the eye and said in one breath (and in Tagalog, too!): "Look! I went to Kathmandu, Nepal on June 2, went to India on August 30, went back to Nepal on October 15, and then from Nepal returned to the Philippines on November 7. From India, I exited via Nepal because I had a roundtrip ticket. The visas are all there!" He looked at me, perhaps a little bit taken aback by my detailed and accurate recital of last year's itinerary (I was surprised myself!). He didn't bother to recheck my story but suddenly mellowed down and said, "Okay, now I understand. You can go now." My hands were still shaking as I shoved all my IDs, money, air tickets, and other stuff into my hand bag. I bit my lip and tried not to cry in mixed relief, frustration, and indignation. Why do they have to always make things harder just because they feel like they have the "authority" to do so? I found myself walking ever so slowly towards the gate to further calm myself. I told the Lord, please... I don't want to do this anymore-- travel alone.
Our airport immigration system in the Philippines really sucks. I mean, how hard could it be to be strict but civil to your own countrymen? Of course, it's not our entire bureau of immigration that sucks. It's some of our figures of authority who are supposed to be public servants dedicated to peace and order and the welfare and well-being of our people. However, they think that their position gives them authority to look down on, harass, and judge their fellow Filipinos through the rudeness and carelessness of their words.
Anyway, by the grace of God, the rest of the trip was uneventful. In all my travels through land, and air, and sea, there are still more gracious people than ungracious ones. The rest of my trip was much compensated for by Thai Airways people who were extremely polite and who served such scrumptious meals on those two flights. I arrived in Delhi at 1 a.m. and the land trip by train to my final destination, Dehradun, north India-- was of course another story!
What should I write about? Hmmmm... (sound of clock, tick-tock, tick-tock...)
Fumbles on iTouch... Hey, I can build a new floor on Tiny Towers! Must be a retail shop... How can I have peace and quiet with all these kids? They're driving me nuts!