688 possible trafficking, illegal recruitment victims prevented from leaving Philippines in 2021 —BI

Published January 17, 2022 10:56am The Bureau of Immigration (BI) reported on Sunday that a total of 688 potential victims of human trafficking and illegal recruitment were prevented to depart from the country last year. In a statement, BI Commissioner Jaime Morente said immigration officers deferred the departure of 13,680 passengers in 2021. Of this number, majority had improper documentation, he said. Of these passengers, 491 were seen as possible human trafficking victims, according to the BI’s Travel Control and Enforcement Unit. They were then turned over to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) for assistance and investigation. On the other hand, 197 individuals were transferred to the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) mostly for presenting counterfeit or questionable overseas work permits and job contracts. The BI also said 34 documents presented during departure were found to be fraudulent or counterfeit by the BI’s forensic documents laboratory “Some common schemes that these human traffickers and illegal recruiters would employ is the issuance of fake documents or tampered visas to their victims, falsified marriages, the continued attempt to use tourist visas to work abroad, and duping underage Filipinos to work as household workers,” Morente said. About 326 minor and underaged victims were also intercepted by BI last year, including 18 who assumed the identities of other people. “There is still a large number of minors and underage victims posing as legitimate workers that were intercepted this year despite the pandemic and despite the continuous warnings we have issued,” Morente said. He then warned aspiring overseas workers not to resort to such schemes in order to work abroad as they might only be given false promises by their recruiters. —Giselle Ombay/KBK, GMA News