BI bars four undocumented OFWs from leaving at Clark Field MANILA, Philippines —

Four outgoing passengers have been barred from leaving the country at Clark Field in Pampanga after they were profiled as undocumented overseas filipino workers (OFW), the Bureau of Immigration said Tuesday.

The passengers were stopped at the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) last April 26 before they could board their flights to Malaysia and Brunei, immigration officer Heranio Manalo in a report to Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan.

Manalo, the BI operations chief at Clark Field, identified the four illegal recruitment victims as Cristina Turing, Rachel Tolentino, Marilyn Abanes, and Janet Rima Buenafrancisca.

Libanan said immediately placed the tourist workers in the immigration watch list to prevent them from trying to leave the country without proper documents.

“We will only remove them from our watch list if they can prove that they are legitimate tourists or after they have secured the necessary documents from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA)," Libanan said.

Manalo’s report said Turing and Tolentino, who were traveling together, were prevented from leaving after they admitted that they were recruited to work in Malaysia.

They, however, claimed that they were still in the process of being recruited and they were merely invited to attend a seminar in Malaysia by their employer.

They also presented invitation letters from their employer, the Green Apple Foot and Reflexology Sdn. Bhd., which further aroused suspicions that they are tourist workers or OFWs disguised as tourists.

Abanes and Buenfrancisca were offloaded while about to board their flights to Brunei Darussalam where they were supposed to work, said Manalo’s report.

“They were prevented from leaving after their passports were found to have employment visa stamps although they did not have any overseas employment certificates from the POEA," it said.

Vice President Noli De Castro, who heads the Task Force Against Illegal Recruitment, has ordered a tight watch at Clark Field following reports that it was being used as exit point for undocumented OFWs.

The government has said it has to stop undocumented OFWs from leaving to save them from being exploited and abused abroad. - GMANews.TV

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