By Alex P. Vidal
“There is no country on Earth where Internet and telecommunications companies do not face at least some pressure from governments to do things that would potentially infringe on users’ rights to free expression and privacy.” — Rebecca MacKinnon
WE feel vindicated when Iloilo City Mayor Geronimo “Jerry” Treñas
assured the public there would be no more mobile phone signal jamming during the January 2024 Dinagyang Festival.
His confirmation that both he and the City Council are oppose to a repeat of this year’s festival signal disruption, which happened in the last five stagings of the cultural and religious festival “for security purposes,” has finally put to rest the long-overdue bickering on this frivolous and inconsequential subject matter.
In 2017, we spearheaded the opposition and criticism in the Iloilo media on the Philippine National Police’s (PNP) proposal to shut down for two days the telecommunication signals in Iloilo City during the Dinagyang Festival’s final days held in the third week of January.
Although we respect the authorities and their expertise in the handling of our security, we thought it was a veritable copycat of what the PNP did when Pope Francis visited Manila on January 15-19, 2015 and during the Black Nazarene procession.
It’s also a clear case of infringement on users’ rights to free expression and privacy especially now that we live in the world of Internet and in golden age of the social media.
We insisted that when communication lines are shut down during important events like the Dinagyang Festival, the comfort and safety of visiting tourists and the residents who update their relatives and friends in other regions and abroad on what’s going on in their locality are spoiled and jeopardized.
We pointed out that drug addicts and drunken dolts don’t use high-tech communication gadgets to create a trouble.
Police deployed in performance areas can always manually overpower any amok in the crowd.
We argued that no real terrorists from other regions–or even outside the country– will commit a “hara-kiri” or “kamikaze attack” by sneaking into the well-guarded metropolis, surrounded by treacherous rivers, just to sabotage the Dinagyang.
“If they only intend to extort cash, bringing an explosive device in Iloilo City is like holding a microphone in public and announcing that they plan to pee at the Plazoleta Gay,” I wrote in jest.
“If they intend to send a political message, they will not only be barking at the wrong tree, they will be in the wrong place of the planet. Malacanang and Imperial Manila are several islands and regions away.”
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IF Filipinos with pending applications for U.S. nonimmigrant visas before, during, and after the pandemic from 2020-2023 applied for U.S. nonimmigrant visas from October 2022 through the federal fiscal year September 2023, chances are they’re now heading for the United States in December 2023 until next year and the years thereafter.
From October 2022 through September 2023 (the 2023 federal fiscal year), the Department of State said it issued a near record level of nonimmigrant visas—more than 10 million globally.
Half of the U.S. embassies and consulates adjudicated more nonimmigrant visas than ever before.
In addition to the U.S.’s near historic total of more than 10.4 million nonimmigrant visas issued worldwide: They issued nearly eight million visitor visas for business and tourism, more than in any fiscal year since 2016.
Preparing Americans for a global environment and attracting future leaders from abroad: International students at U.S. colleges and universities inject up to $38 billion dollars annually into the U.S. economy.
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The Department issued more than 600,000 student visas, the highest in any year since FY 2017.
US embassy and consulates in India issued an all-time record of more than 140,000 student visas.
The Department issued nearly 40,000 student visas to African students, of which more than 9,700 visas were to Nigerian applicants.
Bolstering national and economic security: In recent years, international visitors have contributed as much as $239 billion in annual spending to the U.S. economy and supported an estimated 9.5 million American jobs.
The U.S. issued a record-breaking 442,000 visas to temporary and seasonal workers, addressing the need for workers in agriculture and other sectors where too few U.S. workers are available, contributing to the American economy while addressing the root causes of irregular migration.
The U.S. also issued 590,000 nonimmigrant visas to high-skilled workers and executives to work alongside American experts in some of the United States’ most critical fields, ranging from emerging technology to healthcare.
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It issued nearly 365,000 nonimmigrant visas to airline and shipping crew members, who are essential for maintaining global transportation and the supply chains that support the U.S. and global economies.
Preparing for the future and investing in innovation: These achievements were possible because of innovative solutions, such as expanding interview waiver authorities that allow frequent travelers who meet strict national security standards to renew their visas without having to visit an embassy or consulate.
Looking to the future, the U.S. government announced it is exploring new technologies to assess opportunities to streamline operations, such as the option of domestic renewal in select visa categories.
The Department of State said it is committed to facilitating legitimate travel to the United States while maintaining high national security standards.
“International visitors are instrumental in building people-to-people ties and bring enormous economic benefit to local communities and key sectors of the U.S. economy,” announced the State Department.
(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two daily newspapers in Iloilo.—Ed)
