BI, POEA team up vs. illegal recruiters

Immigration officers have been ordered to be on the lookout for human trafficking victims after the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA) revoked the license of an agency caught sending workers abroad with double visas.

Officers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) found two prospective overseas Filipino workers with altered visas presenting them as a cashier and a hairdresser.

However, the women later presented their true visas indicating their true work was as a housemaid and a babysitter.

“Presenting altered visas is a scheme by some agencies who attempt to illegally send workers abroad,” Bureau of Immigration (BI) Commissioner Siegfred Mison said.

As members of the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking, Mison said the BI and POEA are working to implement all guidelines to prevent such incidences in the future.

“We will continue performing our mandate to ensure that Filipinos will not be victimized by these [human trafficking and illegal recruitment] syndicates,” he said.

POEA cancelled the licenses of 55 recruitment agencies in 2014 for violating the Philippines' migration laws and regulations. —Rie Takumi/KBK, GMA News

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