Bureau of Immigration (BI) agents halted two women from boarding their flight bound for Qatar last Tuesday, April 20, after they were found with fake work permits.
In a report to BI Commissioner Jaime Morente, travel control enforcement chief Ma. Timotea Barizo said the two were already inside the departure area of Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 when an immigration officer found a flaw in their Overseas Employment Certificates (OECs).
The officer said the duo's certificates were not reflected in the BI's database, which is linked to the computer network of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA).
Upon interrogation, the human trafficking victims confessed that their recruiter gave them their OECs at the airport shortly before their scheduled departure that day. They each paid P35,000 for the useless piece of paper.
According to Barizo, falsifying OECs is futile because they have an integrated system with the POEA that they use to check if all departing overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) have been properly documented.She warned prospective OFWs that they cannot leave the country with dubious work documents.
Morente lauded the efforts of immigration officers against human trafficking while at the same time expressed his frustration toward illegal recruitment syndicates.
"I commend the efforts of our immigration front liners who, in spite of pandemic woes, continue to show vigilance in their work as public servants. This should now serve as a warning to syndicates who may have falsely believed that the bureau has become lenient in screening documents during the pandemic,” he said. (With reports from Ariel Fernandez)