Safety of using accredited PH tour agencies for foreign travel?

[spicynujac 21]

I'm planning a trip with my Filipina partner to Tokyo, Japan, which sadly requires a visa for PH citizens.  Instead of applying at the embassy, it appears you need to apply through a short list of accredited tour agencies (there are 3 in Cebu).  

The documents they need from the trip sponsor (me) include bank account statement, income tax return, and government ID.

 

My concern is that I don't generally provide all 3 information points: Government ID #, bank account #, and date of birth, to *anyone* in my country (I don't think I've given anyone a bank account statement ever, except other banks) and feel a bit wary about providing this to a PH tour agency.  I'm not terribly worried about ID theft, other than just having typical old school American privacy concerns about providing sensitive information needlessly, particularly considering how much one could do with all 3 of those matching informations.

 

I suppose the entire idea of an accredited tour agency is one trusted by foreign governments for discretion and accuracy, but it still makes me a bit uncomfortable, especially after a recent trip to Phillippines and Turkey ended up in some fraudulent charges on my international bank card (that I only used at hotels and ATMs) (Schwabb Bank Fraud department was super)

 

Has anyone done this?  Filipinos are generally honest people but the potential for large fraud here is worrysome.

I routinely deal with financial information at my job, and I'm sure these workers see these documents every day, so perhaps I'm worrying too much, but it's a rather onerous requirement for Japan to impose.

 

I'm also worried about the Filipino authorities preventing my partner from leaving the country for the first time under the new September 2023 immigration rules.

And maybe the worrying about the travel agency is moot because Filipino Immigration might demand those same documents at the departure desk anyway.

[spicynujac 21]

I'm sending all the documents via email to the travel agency.  Partner had good idea of putting a password on the tax return.  So if the email isn't deleted or file gets in the wrong hands at a later date, it cannot be easily opened.  She is going to the agency today to give them the password to the docs I emailed.  Mac Preview allows one to easily set a simple password for a pdf file.

[top_secret 2,283]

The government of Japan has made it mandatory that all Japanese tourist visa applications in the Philippines will go through "accredited travel agencies".  Their primary role is to make sure the paperwork is all in Japan's very specific order before it goes to the Embassy for visa approval.  It's a cash cow for the accredited travel agencies and they would not do anything to jeopardize their standing with the Japanese embassy.  If they are really on the "accredited" list they are legit.  Japan is unique among G7 nations in that they routinely grant tourist visas to Filipinos who meet their more or less reasonable standards.  Jump through their hoops and she actually really gets a two week single entry Japan visa.  Most other G7 nations the outcome would be different.  It's alright, so just play along with an accredited travel agency.  We did a total of 5 times and every one a success.  The last two, 5 year multiple entry Japan visas.