That's one of the problems. If the officials think they can squeeze you or shake you down for a few pesos, they will do it. Confiscate it and then tell you to pay a bribe to get it back. Fortunately they make second thoughts about shaking down a Cano vs a local. I think I paid a forced bribe at the airport only once and LTO only once. If you want to make them get shook, pay the bribe and then just as soon as the money hits their hands, tell them you want a receipt so you can declare the bribe as a business expense and you want to validate the bribe at Camp Crame !! For two bribes I had to pay, I turned them over to CIDG.
Like anything, it's not a perfect world and you have to expect this to come up from time to time.
This one is Funny. I had the MNLA inspectors try to confiscate a piece of my equipment the beginning of the year, on my way out of the country. IT WAS A SET OF FINGERNAIL CLIPPERS. The little pocket type that cost like 30 pesos at a Sari Sari store. I told them no and I was not going to let them have the clippers. We had a big argument about it and I did not back down. They finally made a special bag to get the clippers onto the airline as check in luggage for which they wanted to charge me $150 usd for the extra luggage. I yelled and got the manager who signed some form and gave me a receipt and they checked in the bag carrying the fingernail clippers, no charge. I have those in my desk now. Never let them bully you.
Z
