MANILA -- The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) on Thursday said the new guidelines for Filipinos traveling abroad are an additional burden on travelers and may also lead to corruption.

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The said guidelines, which was supposed to take effect on Sept. 3, have been suspended by the DOJ following criticisms from various sectors.

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PCCI Director Sergio Ortiz-Luis said there are other ways to fight human trafficking without having to add burden to millions of legitimate travelers.

"It's even a cause for graft... Bakit nila pinapasa sa lahat ng travellers yun (Why are they passing on this problem to travellers)?," he said.

"Mahilig ang gobyerno nagpapasa ng problema. Pag may problema sa tax collection, ipapasa ang problema sa mga taxpayers, pahihirapan. Pag may problema roon sa compliance... ipapasa, gagawa na naman ng bago... I thought our trend is ease of doing business."

(Government seems to like passing on problems. If there is a problem with tax collection, they pass it on to taxpayers. If there is a problem with compliance, they pass it on again.)

He urged the government to revisit the guidelines and change it for the better.

He added that stricter policies would only affect tourism, business and other aspects of the economy.

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