2 foreigners held for alleged human smuggling at NAIA

MANILA, Philippines - Two foreigners allegedly involved in human smuggling activities, including a 17-year old Sri Lankan national, were held by airport and immigration officials Monday morning.

Clodualdo Penera, head of the Migration Compliance and Monitoring Group, said the minor was accompanied by Owhthevarajah Haykaran Collin, 47, Singaporean national, who claimed to be the boy's relative.

Penera said the two were about to board Northwest Airlines flight NW 72 going to Toronto, Canada at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport when immigration officials noticed the difference between the boy before them and the picture on his passport.

He said the immigration officials subjected the two to secondary passenger profile check where they found out that the boy tried to pass off as a Singaporean national.

During the initial investigation, Collin said he does not know where his companion got his passport but he admitted that he will bring the boy to Canada to save him from the violence in Sri Lanka.

Penera said based on their verification, the two arrived in the country on June 11 from Jakarta, Indonesia.

He added that Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan ordered that the two be brought to the Bureau of Immigration main office in Manila for character verification and investigation and then they will be deported back to Indonesia.

Penera said human smuggling syndicates use fake, stolen and look-alike passports, among others.

The BI earlier alerted its personnel at the country’s prime airports against the attempts by human smuggling syndicates to utilize Manila as its transit point in smuggling people to Canada and Europe.

Libanan said that his agency is coordinating with Malaysian officials as that country is also being utilized by the syndicates to transport illegal aliens in other countries.

RP's Human smuggling problem

Despite this the Philippines remains helpless in curbing the problem on human trafficking, the latest report by the United States’ 2008 Trafficking in Persons showed.

The report, which was released by US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice last June 4, said the Philippines remains to be a “source, transit, and destination country" for trafficking of persons for sexual exploitation and forced labor.

It also placed the Philippines in its Tier 2 list, which includes countries that are having a hard time complying with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000.

For the country’s position to improve, the report recommended that the Philippines should “significantly improve the record of prosecutions, convictions, and punishments for traffickers; disseminate information on the 2003 [Philippine anti-trafficking] law throughout the country."

It also urged the Philippine government to should train law enforcement officers and prosecutors on the use of the 2003 [anti-trafficking] law and vigorously investigates and prosecutes public officials complicit in trafficking.

It said the US urges continued progress in the Philippines in mentioned areas as they are looking forward to working with the government to support its ongoing anti-trafficking efforts.

Prostituted abroad

Filipinos resort to become illegally smuggled abroad to look for job opportunities. Without proper documents however, they become prone to work-related abuses from employers and are often not given proper wages.

In Singapore, a top destination country of Filipino domestic workers, the recorded cases of Filipino women being trafficked to the 'Lion City' last year have surged to 70 percent.

In a report submitted to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), 125 cases of human trafficking in 2006, the embassy there cited "an alarming increase" to 212 in 2007.

According to the press statement, 57 Filipinas or 27 percent of the 212 victims of human trafficking admitted to either having engaged in prostitution or were coerced by Filipino and Singaporean handlers to prostitute themselves.- with reports from Mark J. Ubalde, GMANews.TV

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