More than 37,000 Filipino travelers were barred from leaving the country, most of them victims of illegal recruiters and human trafficking syndicate to illegally work abroad, the Bureau of Immigration said Thursday.
Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente said a total of 37,857 Filipino passengers were stopped from leaving the Ninoy Aquino International Airport and other ports in the country for failure to comply with government regulations and requirements, many of them presented dubious travel documents and fake working visas.
Naia-BI Port Operations Chief Marc Mariñas said the passengers’ departures were “deferred” pending their compliance with government requirements for departing Filipino tourists as spelled out in the revised guidelines on departure formalities issued by the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking.
“Most of the passengers were stopped at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport while the rest were offloaded in the ports of Mactan, Clark, Kalibo, Iloilo, Davao, and Zamboanga,” he said.
Morente, meanwhile, exhorted the bureau’s immigration officers manning the ports to remain vigilant in screening departing Filipino travelers to make sure that they do not fall prey to human traffickers and illegal recruiters.
“We should not allow these syndicates to prey on our poor countrymen by enticing them to illegally travel abroad without proper documentation,” Morente said.
The BI’s anti-trafficking drive at the ports is spearheaded by the travel control and enforcement unit (TCEU) composed of immigration officers who conduct secondary inspection of departing travelers with questionable travel documents and doubtful purposes in going abroad.
“Many of these offloaded passengers were caught in possession of fraudulent supporting documents,” said TCEU chief Julius Caesar Feria II. “Some resorted to misrepresentation while others had tampered or unverified employment visas.”
Feria said the bulk of the passengers, also known as “tourist workers,” were bound for the Middle East while some were destined to other countries in Asia, Europe and North America.
The bureau also prevented 2,300 foreigners from leaving the country last year, all of whom were in the bureau’s hold departure list and watchlist and who are subject of ongoing deportation proceedings.
