Watch DMIA closely for victims of illegal recruitment, officials told

MANILA, Philippines - Vice President Noli De Castro has urged concerned authorities to tighten their watch over the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) in Clark, Pampanga, for unwitting victims of illegal job recruitment.

In a press statement released on Thursday, De Castro said the DMIA has indeed become a favorite exit point for undocumented workers seeking work abroad.

On Wednesday, a composite team led by the Office of the Vice President off-loaded five women passengers from a Malaysia-bound plane for possessing spurious travel documents.

"They were intercepted at the airport following a tip from a Philippine police attaché in Malaysia that the DMIA is being used by illegal recruiters as exit point for their victims," De Castro said.

It said the five women claimed they were going to Malaysia as tourists, but on further questioning they admitted that they were actually going to work in Kuala Lumpur as domestic helpers.

"The composite group composed of operatives from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group - Anti Transnational Police Crime Division (CIDG-ATCD), Philippine National Police (PNP) Directorate for Intelligence, Bureau of Immigration (BI), and the Philippine Overseas Employment Authority (POEA) blocked the five boarding passengers just in time before the 11:45 a.m. scheduled flight of the Air Asia commercial plane to Kuala Lumpur," said the statement.

De Castro said authorities became suspicious because the victims were not carrying any pocket money.

De Castro said the victims were not also allowed to bring cellular phones by their alleged illegal recruiter, whom they identified as Edelsa Quiambao.Romero. The victims said they have not met Romero.

Col. Gilbert Sosa, CIDG-ATCD chief, said Romero has pending warrants of arrest for illegal recruitment and estafa (fraud). De Castro instructed Sosa and the enforcement officials to locate and apprehend the suspect so that corresponding charges can be filed against her. -GMANews.TV

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