The Bureau of Immigration warned overseas Filipino workers from tour operators and travel agencies using their companies as fronts in sending undocumented OFWs abroad.
BI Commissioner Jaime Morente issued the warning after learning that two Filipino women, allegedly recruited by a travel agency to work in Qatar, were recently intercepted at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
Morente said travel agencies who send Filipinos disguised as tourists to work abroad can be held liable for violating the law as they are not authorized and licensed to recruit and deploy overseas job applicants.
According to BI port operations division chief Grifton Medina, the two were stopped by members of the bureau’s travel control and enforcement unit at the NAIA Terminal 3.
Medina said the two were initially bound for Bangkok, Thailand where they were instructed by their recruiter to wait for their working visas and job contracts before proceeding to their final destination in Doha, Qatar.
They were told that upon their arrival in Bangkok, they will be given their working visas within 24 hours after which they can fly to Qatar to work as a waitress and a cashier,” the BI official said.
