Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 10) — The Bureau of Immigration (BI) is calling on Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) officials to look into airline personnel’s possible links to human trafficking and illegal recruitment.
The BI on Monday said its commissioner Norman Tansingco made the appeal after BI officers at the NAIA Terminal 3 prevented a passenger from leaving on April 5 as her passport was found to have a fake immigration departure stamp.
The woman was supposedly bound for Kuala Lumpur en route to her final destination in the United Arab Emirates, where she was recruited to work as a domestic worker.
According to the passenger, she was told to line up after her handler handed her a passport and boarding pass, which had a fake stamp.
“The woman narrated during questioning that she was assisted by an airline employee and the latter’s former officemate in queuing at the immigration departure counter,” the BI said.
Tansingco did not name the airline associated with the passenger’s “escorts” but the BI chief said the case is being investigated by NAIA’s anti-trafficking task force and airport police.
“They should stop preying on our poor countrymen who want to work abroad due to poverty and their desire to uplift the lives of their families,” he said, referring to the possible connivance of traffickers and airline personnel.
“We thus urge airport authorities to dig deeper into these shenanigans and file the cases against those involved,” he added.
